


Killer Contact

by Megadork



Category: In Love with a Killer - Fandom
Genre: Abuse, Complicated Relationships, Crime, Dark Humor, Depictions of Abuse, F/M, False Emotions, Homicide, Horror, Humor, Hybristophilia, Irony, Kidnapping, Killer Love, Killorbekilled, Love, Mentions of Sexual Identities, Mentions/Sex Trafficking, Minor Character Death, Murder, Overcoming Past Traumas, Sexual References, Some Self-Harm and Emotional Abuse, Strong Suggestion towards Sexual Situations, Suggestive language, Teen Fiction, Teen Romance, Triggers, Unlucky Rich Boy, Violence/Gore, gay humor, killer, past relationship, self love, suspense/thriller, young adult romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-23
Updated: 2020-06-23
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:41:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 26
Words: 61,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24549322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Megadork/pseuds/Megadork
Summary: What do you do when you fall in love with the victim?Well... it's complicated.------Killers, trafficking, constant kidnappings, and a crazy ex reappearing years later shakes up to be one wild ride in the life of Catherian Bells and Nixon Gray. While struggling to control her past and stay alive in the present, falling in love is probably the last option she should consider when stuck in the position of one person wanting her dead and another wanting her for prostitution...A 'Partners in Crime' related scenario where love blossoms between two unlikely people.Nothing will ever be the same.- - - - - -No copyright allowed!!!Enjoy!
Relationships: F/K, L/R, N/C - Relationship, Past- J/C
Kudos: 1





	1. Fateful Day

**Author's Note:**

  * For [My Friends](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=My+Friends).



> The co-creator is @Deafinition on the Wattpad platform.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Introducing Axl Malcom the dick.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to Killer Contact

**Cherry**

As usual, it was an ordinary Thursday at school. I was alone because of that fateful day that I can never change. I was in my History classroom listening to the boring lecture that Mrs. English had started in punishment for all of the loud students. Though I think she secretly hates me and I have no idea why. _Ugh, why can’t the bell ring already?!_ I looked over to the clock posted up on the wall above the board: I only have a few more minutes of class. I looked around at my classmates, my eyes passing Axl as I did. I could feel myself becoming uneasy by the second and I decided to shift my gaze to a different person. The person was one of the most popular guys in our school. Jackson, if I’m correct. He had blonde hair and blue eyes. Or I could say the cliché prince charming type of guy if you get what I mean.

He turned his head in my direction and gave a soft smile along with a wink- _totally the prince charming type_ , before focussing his attention back on Mrs. English. Mr. Popular is an egotistical jerk. No, he has not been a jerk to me but he has broken one too many girls’ hearts. I’m pretty positive that he doesn’t even stay for the first date before chasing another girl. He thinks he is so high and mighty that you can’t even see his dick. You see, Jackson’s father is a very important man- so important no-one even knows what his real job is, except maybe Jackson. Anyway, Jackson is your average highschool charmer (dick) who thinks he can get whatever he wants whenever he wants.

Not too many seconds passed when I felt something hit the back of my head... something soft. I looked over to my side on the floor and saw a crumpled piece of paper. I looked up in the direction I thought it came from and saw Axl grinning.

_Wow, thanks for boosting my nervousness..._

I leaned over and picked up the paper; I opened it and read what was written inside it.

_Meet me behind the school after class_

I shivered, but only slightly. I mean, I could just avoid him, but that’ll only make things worse for me. Axl was my cliché bully and he made sure everything he did was down to the last page of the book. I used to know his older brother John but when I stopped seeing him around I figured it was because he did not want to speak with me. I was wrong of course: John had disappeared overnight and then their parents divorced a few days later. Axl blames this all on me- for fucking up his family and fucking with his brother’s head into making him leave.

RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNGGGGGG!!!

_Speak of the devil..._

My shoulders tensed when everyone shuffled out of their seats and walked out the door, signaling class was over.

_Ugh, let’s just get this over with._

I started toward the door when Mrs. English called out to me, “Miss Bells if I remember correctly I didn’t dismiss you.” I sat back down in my seat and slouched absolutely distressed. _What did I do now??_ I thought staring past everyone as the last of them left the classroom.

“Miss Bells, I want to know why you were disrupting my class today.” I sighed. This was the only time I ever talked to a teacher alone. I didn’t have any friends and none of those cliché boyfriends. Though, sometimes I wish I did because then maybe I wouldn’t be in this mess.

“I’m not sure what I’ve done...”

“I don’t want to hear it!” She smacked her yardstick on her desk before I could finish my part and I flinched in surprise.  
She sighed, “I want to see you after school tomorrow for detention.”

_Detention! What?! No!_

“Wait! Can’t I have it now? Please, I don’t even know what I did wrong!” But all she did was sit back in her chair with an evil smile and point to the door, officially ending the conversation. As much as I didn’t want to go I had to leave, and not for the sake of Mrs. English but Axl was still waiting for me! I got up out of my seat and packed up all of my supplies with an air of gloom and strapped on my backpack. I slowly walked out of class, headed down the hall, and went through the double doors near the football field. I trailed along the side of the building and was about to turn the corner, but...

I gasped in pain and surprise as I someone pushed me forcefully into the wall, “It took you long enough to get here.” Axl said.

I held my breath in fear, “What’s wrong? Are you too scared to speak or is it me? Bitch. Hahaha.” Axl chuckled. He then grabbed me by the hair and threw me on the ground. Then, he got on top of me and started punching me repeatedly before getting up again and violently kicking me in the side. After that, he stomped all over my jaw and all I could do was curl up in a fetal position, shaking in pain. I could feel tears running down my face, my whole upper body area and sides aching and everything just blazing in agony.

Then it was over, “That’s all you can take...? Whatever, same place, same time. Tomorrow and you better be here... or else.” He said walking away. I moved to curl up against the wall and sobbed in anguish. _How much more of this can I take? I keep saying that it’ll change, that it’ll get better or someday he’ll just disappear like John. Why do I torture myself like this?_ Only a few minutes later did I hear footsteps coming from my left, and then closer, and then it quickly turned to running footfalls.

“Oh my god! Catherian are you okay?” I looked over my left shoulder to see Jackson and his perfect sad smile. I sniffled and nodded my head, trying my best to smile back at him, but it failed. Horribly. I tried sitting up to stand to show that I was _perfectly_ capable of doing so, but my legs had other plans and buckled underneath me.

“But, you’re fucking bleeding. I’m going to take you to the nurse.” He said with worry laced into his voice. _Wait... I’m bleeding? Where?!_ I checked over myself and then noticed my skinned knees and felt my lip and nose with my fingertips as a warm liquid began to leak down my face. _Wow me, congratulations on just figuring out you’re bleeding._

Jackson bent down to a squat to pick me up bridal style and hurried over to the double doors, using one hand to open the door and the other to keep me steady. _UM, I wasn’t aware that I was dying?_ As he hurried me down the hall he glanced down at me and smiled before saying, “You’ll be okay.” His shining, worried blue eyes were the last thing I saw.


	2. Butter Knife

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Killers don't need cars.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The co-creator is @Deafinition on the Wattpad platform.

**Nixon**

I had my head resting lazily in my hand, sitting in class, half-listening to my research teacher going about how to write a good research paper. Now I was only partially listening because I wasn’t bored or anything like that. I do like this class a lot especially when we do a topic about investigations and stuff like that but recently, someone has caught my attention. There’s this high schooler named, ‘Axl’, now I don’t know what grade he’s in but we aren’t going to get into that. He’s been.. well bullying this girl I sort of like. Her name is, ‘Catherian’. I think she’s really pretty. My initial goal was to murder her, to be honest, I was a full-on stalker. She’d be so easy to kill with her mom being away all the time plus they have a bunch of stuff I could steal and profit off of.

Anyway, I don’t like that he’s bothering her so I’m going to solve it. Real soon. In fact, I’m going to fix it today. After that’s done I’ll give her some time to get used to things then maybe.. just maybe I’ll talk to her. I’m pretty sure she’d like me. I mean I’m tall, bad, and good-looking, who doesn’t want a bad boy, right? Anyway, I spared a glance at the classroom clock hoping to see how long we have until the bell rings. ′ _Gee, one more hour to go before the fucking bell rings... damn, I have things to do today! This good Thursday!_ ′

I started tapping my desk, sighing outwardly at my displeasure. ′ _At least it can’t get worse than this right? Come on one more hour isn’t that bad._ ′

Right after school, I plan on heading home to prepare for not only murder but robbery as well cause your guy right here has to make money somehow. It ain’t easy living on your own. One of these days, I believe it was a Tuesday a few weeks ago that I started following him home to obviously see where he lived so I can see how to get in, who’s home, what they have that’s valuable, stuff like that. He walked home from school often which is how I could easily follow him if that’s what you’re wondering. I didn’t own a car mainly because I never really needed one. I don’t work but I do plenty of side jobs during the week to help pay my rent. Again more information you’d probably want to know, I’m nineteen and a senior in high school. I’m going to graduate in a few months or so and I have no idea what I want to do for college or university.

Man, I’m really bad at staying on topic, not usually my thing. Just goes to show you where I’m at mentally. Axl lived with his mom. I never have seen a father figure around. But it seemed like his mom was looking for a new man. So she was gone most of the time. I found out, after major stakeout that she’ll be out for a while today, as long as she’s gone... I have enough time to get my shit ready. He’ll be dead before he realizes, hehe. The only problem I have is I didn’t plan how I was going to get in, but I’m sure I’ll come up with something along the way or when I arrive there. All I have to do is wait for school to end and till night comes.

**Hours later**

I was excited for tonight! I haven’t killed anyone in about two months and it’ll put some money in my pockets. I was watching a show called, ‘Monsters inside me’, and ‘Lost tapes’, a little while ago. Monsters inside me are all about parasites somehow getting inside your body and destroy you from the inside. Lost tapes are actually multiple encounters of people with a mythological beast like the Kraken, Bigfoot, Loch Ness monster, etc. They both are pretty good shows I just wish they aired more often. I was watching on Netflix since like I said, they don’t air often.

At the moment, I was in my bedroom, grabbing the things I need such as my precious combat knife (I never go anywhere without it). It was with a smooth handle, slightly ridged edges, and a beautiful silver trim to it. I loved it, even more, when it’s dripping with blood or it just shining in the light, especially at night. After admiring the knife, I grabbed my multi-tool and black gloves from my dresser and slipped them on. I placed my multi-tool in my pockets and grabbed my black duffel bag, putting it on the bed. From there I went ahead and grabbed a flashlight, an electric lockpick, and my glass cutter. You know, you can literally buy it from a hardware store for only $20 dollars? They’re just making it too easy for me. It’s big enough to cut a hole in the window enough to fit up to your forearm. Simply, for unlocking windows. After making sure I had everything I needed, I headed to the living, to my TV stand where my house keys lie. I quickly scooped them up and left out the front door, locking it behind me. After that, I slid the keys into my pocket and slowly made it to his house using the night as cover. I was wearing a dark green shirt with black jeans if you were curious about that. It’s not like I’ll make myself an obvious target if I’m going to not only kill someone but steal stuff as well.

To make sure that I would be less noticeable than intended, I decided it would be best to get to his house by crossing through people’s backyards. It didn’t take me too long to finally get to his house, it wasn’t that far from the school and my house is like twenty minutes or less away from the school if you’re walking at a decent pace. I jumped across his backyard gate and thought up a plan, ′ _Hm, what to do? What to do?_ ′

I pondered on my choices for a few minutes. ′ _I could just pick his back door lock... Lure him outside...? Use the ladder by the shed? Or do I just use my glass cutter.. hm.._ ′ I sighed, ′ _I’ll just pick the back door._ ′ But first, I needed to make sure he wasn’t anywhere near the darn door. I did my best as I attempted to peek through the windows. ′ _Well, if he’s nearby I can just book it out of here._ ′ I went back to the back door, setting down my duffel bag to grab my electric lock pick out. To be honest, you know, my burglars can just walk right in the front door? Crazy, right? It only happens to people who don’t lock their doors. The door made a satisfying clicking sound, signaling that the door is unlocked. I picked my bag back up and headed ’round the house, just to see if he comes to the door.

...

....

....

.....

Nothing, ′ _Great._ ′ I zipped my duffel bag back up and left it on the side of the house. I carefully and slowly creaked the door opened, being careful of where he could possibly be. I peeked in, looking around, seeing no one. ′ _Good_ ,′ I slowly walked in, now looking for things I can take... ′ _Okay, there are some headphones on the coffee table over there. Probably better stuff in the bedrooms as per usual._ ′

I made my way to the stairs, dreading that these stairs will creak. One step, two-step, nothing, three-step, nothing? Fourth step? _CREEEAAAAKKKK_

′ _Dammit!_ ′ I paused for a second and waited to see if maybe he heard it. Maybe it was just loud to me. ′ _Clear._ ′ At the top of the stairs, I poked my head around the corner, just to quickly scope out the hall. Again, it’s clear. Now, to be honest, I don’t know what room belongs to Axl. I just made sure no one else was going to be here. I slowly went to each room, slowly and carefully opening each door, till one door revealed a sudden light. With the door was slightly ajar, I slightly peeked in and saw that he was in his room playing on a PS4; if I’m correct he was playing Call of Duty: Blackout. I’m no serious gamer, but I do know some of the popular titles.

It’s Axl’s own fault was that he was wearing headphones, seemingly chatting away with whoever is online. I mean I wouldn’t blame him for wearing headphones, but when you’re home alone, I’d at least have one headphone off of my ear. Laughing silently to myself, I pushed the door open more and took out my knife, twirling it in my hand. I quietly crawled up behind him and stopped twirling my knife and held it in a firm grip. Then I swiftly grabbed him by his hair and yanked his head with my left hand, bringing my knife across his throat. I let him go with a deep gash in his neck, grabbing his headphones off of his head and cutting the cord with my knife.

Heh, the crimson liquid went everywhere. Absolutely everywhere. He held a shocked expression as he tried to stop himself from suffocating by holding his throat, which obviously still didn’t work. Once your throat is cut you’re done for. Well, once you’re carotid arteries are cut you’re 100% dead. I grinned at the sight as he gasped for air. It only took him a few seconds to lose conscience. Aw, I wish it could have gone on longer ~ Oh well ~

My gloves surprisingly had not gotten too bloody. It was just the right glove that got a bit of blood on it. Eh, still gotta get rid of them anyway.

I finally rid Cherry of his presence. Good job me! I wiped my knife at the air to fling some of the blood off letting it ‘paint’ across the wall and furniture in the room. I dropped the cut headphones on the floor and walked out of his room door. I closed the door slightly, before going all the way downstairs back outside just to grab my duffel bag. Then I headed to the parent’s room, I found while looking for Axl’s. I gave myself a time limit of about five just encase anyone came by. In the parent’s room, I found about $400 dollars worth of jewelry, which is enough for me. I would go and take that PS4 but it got blood all over it. But, my job is done here so I decided to leave.

I made it back home and washed my knife and gloves. Once the gloves were clean I put them in a bag, tied it up, and threw them away in the trash in the kitchen. ′ _I’ll throw that out in a few days._ ′

After that, I went back to my room and put my duffel bag under the bed before going to the living room where I sat on the couch and thought about ways to introduce myself to Cherry now that she’s free for now. Yeah, go ahead and say it again. Creeper much? I won’t deny it, haha.

**Morning**

The next morning, I woke up in bed due to my phone, ringing loudly next to me on my dresser. I waited till it stopped ringing and attempted to go back to sleep. But, whoever was calling me had other plans. It bugged the hell out of me so I grabbed it and read the caller ID.

Felix.

A close friend of mine. He was the energetic type and way too loud. He can be quite annoying at times and a bit of a weasel. Sometimes I want to kill him for just being him, especially when he decides to get on my nerves with his bullshit.

I decided after a few seconds to answer his call, ‘Why the hell is he calling me seven o’clock in the morning?! When did he start getting up early?’ I swiped my finger over to the answer button and held the phone up to my ear, “The fuck do you want?” I said by annoyance lacing my voice.

“Hey, Nixon,” Felix greeted. “I was wondering how many times I would have to call you for you to pick up,” He added. “But listen, I wanted to know if you wanted to hang out today! Liam going be over too!”

“Felix,” I said. “Why the fuck are you calling me so early? It’s fucking seven o’clock in the morning!” I grumbled, “You know, I’m not a morning person!”

“Calm down Nix,” He said. “I woke up early surprisingly and thought, Why not call Nix and invite him.”

“......”

“Well, are you coming or not?”

I sighed and said, “Yeah, I’ll be over around two.”

“Alright, see ya till then. Bye!” He hung up.

I placed my phone on the dresser and sat up. I felt a bit stiff in the body, so I stretched out extending my arms across my shoulder to the back of my head, also letting out a loud yawn. I got up out of my bed in my boxers and I went over to my closet and grabbed a pair of blue jeans and a black shirt. I then proceeded to put my clothes on. I chuckled just remembering what occurred last night and went to the bathroom to do my morning habit aka wash my face, brush my teeth, stuff like that.

Soon after, I headed to the kitchen got a piece of bread, and placed it in the toaster. I turned on the TV in the living room to the news channel. I heard a report on Axel Malcolm’s ‘sudden’ death. I laughed. It seems they think a burglar broke in and killed him, which they aren’t wrong.

My toasted bread popped out of the toaster and went into my fridge and got some butter. I grabbed a napkin and placed it on the kitchen counter and placed my toast down. I opened the cabinet over the counter and grabbed the jelly. I put the jelly on the counter and grabbed a butter knife from my kitchen drawer.

I put some butter of my butter knife and spread it on my toast. Once done with that, I poured squirted some jelly on it and used a butter knife to spread it on the toast. I put the butter back in the fridge and the jelly back into the cabinet. I picked up my toast and munched on it. I went to my living room couch and sat on it, waiting patiently for two to come around.


	3. Cold Apples

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Accused by false witness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The co-creator is @Deafinition on the Wattpad platform.

**Cherry**

I turned on my side in the uncomfortable nurse’s room bed and noticed Jackson who was currently sitting in the plastic school chair to my right.

_I must have passed out..._

“Hi.” _What the fuck? Hi? That’s all he has to say after carrying me here like a damsel in distress? What even happened after I passed out?_ Sitting up, I stared at him hard before looking around the room. I’ve been here a few times so nothing about it is new except the new flower plant Nurse Diane bought the other day. Looking back at Jackson I couldn’t help myself as I _really_ checked him out: his hair was a deep blonde that was hard to tell whether he bleached and dyed it or if it was his natural hair; his eyes were a dark pale blue color and glinted off the white lights in the room- _Oh Jesus he has an uncomfortable air around him_.

As I was about to ask how long we had been here (no more than an hour probably), Nurse Diane walked around the corner from her desk and opened the curtain a little more so she could see us both more clearly. “Hello, Catherian! Are you feeling better? I put some healing cream on your bruises and medicine on your cuts. Hey, pretty boy can you wait outside, please?” I waited until Jackson was out of sight to giggle at her comment.

“I’m feeling better than earlier... Hey, by the way, how long was out?”

“Mmm... about two hours? It’s only 4:27 PM,” she said.

I sighed in relief and smiled up at her, “Thanks.” As I was about to get up she grabbed my wrist and pulled me to sit back down: there was a serious expression on her face and I smiled cheekily in response as I awaited the question she always asked.

“When are you going to tell who keeps beating you up? This time it was really serious! What if pretty boy over there didn’t find you?” She yelled at first then lowered her voice in the middle and end. I only shrugged. What more could I say? _I’m not telling her who it is just so I can get beat even more! She can’t know. It’s not like the rest of the school cares anyway..._ I can’t remember how many times someone has seen Axl beating me and not done one thing. _What if Jackson was watching and planned this? Does he want a favor?! What if he is working with Axl?!_

I smiled sadly at her and said, “I’m sorry, I can’t tell you.” I stood up from the bed and left the room, taking it slow until I came upon Jackson waiting outside the door. He was leaning against the wall looking at his phone with a smirk playing on his lips. Shaking my head I looked up to meet his eyes finding that they were already looking at me.

Embarrassed, I looked to the side before taking a deep breath and looking back, “Why did you help me?” He scoffed with a strange smile and my eyes followed his hands as he put his phone away.

“Why wouldn’t I help you? You’re beautiful and there was no way I was going to watch as that Jerk beat you.” _Oh, so he was watching until he ‘decided’ to help me and he helped because ‘I’m beautiful’. Sorry Mr. Popular but this girl does not take flattery from a stranger who thinks he can just thrust his way in my life because he thinks he is handsome._ Staring at him a moment longer I decided I didn’t need to waste any more of my time here and just go home.

I started to walk away when he called out, “Wait! Don’t forget your bag.” I turned around to see him holding my backpack in the air with a sly smile on his stupid face. _Fuck, he’s never going to leave me alone, is he?_

**2 Days Later...**

It is Saturday now. That Thursday, before I made it to the front of the school, Jackson walked behind me until I finally told him to, “Stop following me.” He called out unnecessarily from the door, as I was walking away, that he was going out to a party and wondered if I wanted to go... of course my answer to that was no! Apparently getting beat up isn’t a good enough excuse for me to go home and rest!

Friday was the same except... Axl wasn’t at school. Detention was canceled and everyone seemed quiet... distance from me... more than usual.

A knock on the front door interrupted my dance session and startled me to the floor. Laughing a little at my clumsiness, I walked down the stairs and peeked through the peephole: two officers stood there with one of them holding their badge to the peephole and the other had a small notepad. The man holding the badge spoke roughly through the door, “This is the county sheriff, open the door. We have a business to discuss.” Confused I unlocked the door and opened it wide enough to see both of them, but stood between the door and the side ledge so they couldn’t see all the way into the house.

The woman with curly red hair holding the notepad cleared her throat, “Ma’am, we are here to talk about Axl Malcolm. We have reason to believe that he was a bully at school and because of these unfortunate circumstances you are under the suspicion that you have committed murder.” My eyes widened, _Hold up! Axl is dead?_ _Holy shit! Should I be happy about this?! Oh my god! Wait, stop smiling!_

Clearing my head the best I could, and wiping the smirk off my face, I looked back up at the cops, “Oh... Well, come on in. We can talk inside.”

**2 Hours Later**

“Thank you again for answering all of our questions. Please don’t hesitate to call or report anything suspicious to the police department.”

Walking them to the front door I smiled and nodded, “Yes, yes, of course. Good day.”

“Have a lovely day.”

“Afternoon, Ma’am.”

Closing the door with a sigh, I locked it again and went back to the couch to relax. “I can’t believe Axl is dead.” Saying it out loud was weird, almost as if he wasn’t dead and I was just dreaming he was. A minute or so went by when my phone buzzed signaling I had a text message. It had to be my mom since she was the only number I had on my phone.

_Mom - I’ll be home next month, night sweetie!_

_Me - Okay, see you then_

Turning the TV on, I plugged my phone in the charger and walked to the fridge to grab an apple. The only thing on was animal programs and talk shows so I settled with watching American Horror Story on Netflix. Glancing at the clock as I waited for the app to load it reads 2:50 PM. _At least it’s not the end of the day yet_. I decided to spend the rest of the day watching my show and put the thought of worrying about the school to the back of my mind.

**1 Day Later...**


	4. Anything Sweet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Even calculus is mentioned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The co-creator is @Deafinition on the Wattpad platform.

**Nixon**

“Mhm~” I hummed to myself as I walked two dogs through the neighborhood. It was a Beagle named, ‘Maggie’, and a Boxer named, ‘Duke’. We were about a good half an hour into our walk. I planned in heading to the dog park and let them run around for a while. And yes, these weren’t my dogs. I do side jobs like dog-walking for some cash. Usually, walking dogs twice a week, but sometimes I can go up to five. Besides, it’s easy money.

And I can relax and take a good look at the neighborhood. Not exactly my own, I live closeby. In fact, Cherry lives round’ here. Maybe I should stop by..? Nah, that’ll be weird. I’ll just keep going to where I planned. And so I did that and made it to the dog park. Once I got in the gate, making sure I closed it. I unleashed Maggie and Duke. From there I went over to a bench where I could keep my eye on them. On my way there, I was greeted by a lot of dogs, who just wanted some attention, in which I gave little in small pets and scratches. I sat on the bench and sent a quick text message to a good friend of mine to see if we had any homework for Calculus. ‘If we do have homework I suppose I could stop by or ask him to pick me up after this.’

Or I could just go over to hang out... No, yea right. I do need to go get some groceries for the fridge. Yeah, I’ll head there after we finish up here. I just need the essentials: milk, cereal, meat, water, and that’s about it for now.

**An hour later**

I finally made it home from the grocery store. I unlocked my door, and went inside, going straight to the kitchen to set my bags down. I started with the drinks, mainly the milk, putting it in the fridge first then that water, and meat in the freezer. I put the cereals, ‘Cinnamon Toasts’, ‘Lucky Charms’, and ‘Frosted Flakes’ on top of the fridge. From there I headed to my room to my laptop desk to calculate what I’ve earned so far.

Thinking to myself, ′ _Okay, since it’s Sunday and I’ve already walked and watched the dogs three times, mowed a lawn, and tutored that kid...._ ′

“I made... $1,176... Just some change off of my rent and two weeks to go. Great!” I mumbled. “I can rest easy.” After a while I fed myself to some cereal, showered, and went to bed for school tomorrow. ′ _Sweet it’s going to be Monday and I can do wayy more work for cash... if I don’t get too much homework. And maybe... just maybe find a new victim~_ ′

**Next Day**

_RIINNNNG_

“........”

_RIINNNNG_

“...........”

_RIINNNNG_

“Ugh....”

_RIINNNNG_

“Shu..t up.”

_RIINNNNG_

I tiredly raised my hand to smash my alarm clock on my desk, a little annoyed by its constant rings. Once the noise stopped, I rested my arm on my head for a few seconds, dreading the day. I got up out of bed, yawning as I did. I flicked on my room light and headed towards my dresser, opening up one and grabbed a navy multi-colored long-sleeved shirt, and forest green cargo pants with a brown belt. I quickly changed into them and went into the bathroom. Flicking the lights, I saw myself in the mirror. I smiled and posed and then grabbed a rag and washed my face. Next, I got my toothbrush and began brushing my teeth.

I finished up in the bathroom and went back into my room. I scooped up my backpack and phone and went to the kitchen for some quick breakfast, which I had Lucky Charms and two pieces of toast. I quickly locked up and headed towards school. I lived about ... maybe fifteen... twenty minutes away soo walking wasn’t really a problem. It was eight minutes after I got a text message. Which read:

From: Mom

Hey sweetie, this month we won’t be able to give you $500. Your dad is being a jerk. :P But I went ahead and transferred $200 to your account. I hope it won’t be a big deal. Love you <3

′ _Goddamnit! That means I only got $876 for rent. Ah shit!_ ′ I sat my hands on my head, sighing loudly. “Fuck..!” I dramatically pulled my arms down to my sides. “I need about $250... This is going to be tight.” I bit my lip and continued my walk. It was the third week of the month. I usually have all the rent money by now... ′ _I can get enough by Friday if nothing comes up.. and if something does come up. Well someone’s gonna get robbed._ ′

While in my thoughts I failed to check the time when waking up. I looked at the time on my phone. 7:38 AM

“......”

“You fucking kidding me?” I said to myself. ′ _How the hell I missed that?! School started eight minutes ago..! Ha, I’m not running. Fuck it. Ten more minutes or so and I’m there._ ′ Then I thought about my first-period teacher... Mr. Garcia. ′ _Fuck.. he isn’t going to be happy._ ′ I walked a bit quicker than before but maybe I went a little too quickly because as soon as I did enter through the double doors... I fucking stubbed my fucking toe. I screamed internally and sucked in as much breath as I could in order not to shout out loud. My hands rigid then folding into a hard fist as I kept walking, looking to the ceiling. ′ _It’s okay Nixon. Just go to class. and everything will be okay. You’re gonna get the cash you need and rest easy. You’re gonna be fine in class. Bud will certainly help catch you up with anything you’ve missed. Let’s go..!_ ′

I headed to the front office to collect my tardy pass and went on to the class, still think about how pissed Mr. G is going to be. As I did that, lost in my thoughts, I once again failed to realize where I was going...


	5. First Impressions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Who cares about Axl Malcom?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The co-creator is @Deafinition on the Wattpad platform.

**Cherry**

The morning started off on a good start: my alarm didn’t seem as annoying, my hair wasn’t all over the place and my mood was off the charts! I’d never felt this happy before. Axl was gone! I didn’t have to worry about another day of pain. _Although, it does make me wonder who killed him..._ Before leaving the house I grabbed a nutrition bar and made my way to school with a soft smile on my face. I arrived with spare time (it was only 7:26 AM) so I decided to pay Nurse Diane a visit.

**12 Minutes Later...**

“I can’t believe you did not show for detention last week! Did you lose your hearing, Miss Bells? I said get out of my classroom, go to Mr. Garcia, and finish that test!” The door slammed behind me as I rushed out of the classroom my face red with embarrassment and heart beating fast. _Oh god, what did I do now? She said she canceled it! If she hates me so much why doesn’t she switch me out of her class?_ Clutching the thick pile of papers in my hand, which is supposedly the test, I walked quickly glancing down at the papers now and then to see what it was about. Not watching where I was going, it wasn’t until I looked up again that it was too late.

The world almost seemed to stop. Everything happened so fast but I could recall every single detail. This guy’s eyes flashed a grey, foreboding a dark sense of anger inside him; his black hair was styled in a way that screamed “fuck off!“ while his body language was stiff. He crashed into me and I fell back on the floor with the test papers scattered all around us, while he tripped over his feet before regaining his balance and managing not to fall. “Fucking watch where you’re going! Gee, all this fucking space, and you still hit me! Damn.”

“I’m already late...!” He added.

_Boo... hoo..._

I didn’t bother to say anything. I got onto my knees and moved around on the floor, collecting all of the pages of the test. “I mean seriously! You’d think that people around here would know how to walk, but I guess not. Idiot! I don’t even know why I’m wasting my time talking to you. Tch, so ungrateful for the things I do for people...”

Ignoring his last comment, I looked up at him with a new fire in my eyes and pushed myself up and got in his face, “Go fuck yourself! If I’m so pathetic why do you keep talking to me?! Leave me alone! I’ve had enough of you all treating me like some ‘poor creature’!”

“You disgust me.” I snarled.

He opens his mouth to say something when a voice shouts from behind me, “HEY! YOU TWO! GET TO CLASS BEFORE I BUST YOUR ASSES!” I spun around to see a security guard rounding the corner, handling a gun in his holster and pointing his finger at us.

“YEAH! I DARE YOU TO DO IT!” He retorted back, flipping the bird on both hands, then took off in the same direction I was originally heading. _It’s just a coincidence_ , I told myself as I bent down to collect the last of the papers and stood up once finished. The security guard was watching me with an unnerving, endless stare... I hurried to Mr. Garcia’s classroom.

The door was open so I didn’t need to knock, and the class wasn’t loud but I could still hear the small conversations here and there as I made my way through the doorway. As I trailed over to Mr. Garcia’s desk, I glanced sideways and noticed how small the class was: _This must be his senior class._ Once I made it to the teacher’s desk I turned away from the class, “Mrs. English sent me here to complete a test.” At first, he didn’t look up since he was writing something down, which took a few minutes for him to finish because he finally addressed me.

“What do you need?”

_What the fuck? Maybe he didn’t hear me?_

“Mrs. English told me to come here to take a test.”

“Can’t you do it in her own classroom?”

“She’s going over the answers.”

He held his hand out without looking up, “Let me see that.”

_Well damn, I didn’t know he was a perfectionist._

I watched as he flipped through the papers, checking each side, back and front until he gave it back to me with a grunt, “Go take a seat by Mr. Gray.” He pointed behind me and I turned around to search for where he was pointing at, but it was so vague that at a loss I turned back to Mr. Garcia with a confused glance.

“Mr. Gray, raise your hand!” When I turned back around my eyes connected with the same grey eyes that shouted fury at me not even five minutes ago. _Why me?!_ There was also another guy who was sitting to his right. I took the test back from him and slowly made my way to the back right of the classroom. There was only one seat next to ‘Mr. Gray’, it being the last seat of the row, so I couldn’t move a seat between us, unfortunately. I dropped the test on the desk and set my bag on the ground, sitting to his left. It was silent for a moment, the guy sitting next to him whispering comments to him every now and then; however, it was hard concentrating on my test since he never responded to his friend _(I’m assuming)_ and I could feel his steel eyes on me. I tried not to make it obvious that I knew he was watching, but my concentration faded every minute until I finally just stopped.

I dropped my pencil down and turn to my right with a neutral gaze as our eyes locked for the third time today. His mouth was moving like he was trying to tell me something- something he didn’t want his friend to hear. I’m horrible at reading lips, so it was more of a distraction than a conversation. He turned away for a second and I was about to turn back to my test thinking he had given up, when (after adding something to his friend), his head snapped back to face me and he smirked with a rough curl to his lips, “Your place or mine? Tell you what? I’ll flip a coin. Head at my place..”

_Whoa... that was..._

I didn’t get to finish my thought because suddenly he swiftly scooted his desk closer to mine and, checking to make sure the teacher wasn’t watching, he leaned in close to my face. A little flustered I moved my head an inch back to give him a clear expression of offense on my face, but that didn’t stop him from leaning closer still and tickling my ear with his breath, he spoke, “..and tail at yours.” I pulled away further in surprise, thinking _Okay so this dude was literally yelling at me in the hallway and now he is being a total perv... is he trying to be... seductive??_ Finished with his play of words, he winked at me and moved his desk back closer to his friend. He didn’t turn to him. He looked down at his desk and _smiled_ in a way that seemed a little... _off_.

Trying to ignore his strange flirtatious comments, and with very little confidence, I focused back on the task of finishing the test that had no relation to the History subject at all.

**A Few Hours Later, After School...**

I stepped out of the tub: mirror foggy and air a mixture of humid moistness from my much-needed shower. Grabbing my undergarments I dressed into my normal nightwear: a loose shirt with short, soft turquoise shorts that had pockets; then I brushed my hair, teeth and rinsed my mouth out. Looking into the mirror brown eyes stared back at me. Long, curled ends of brown strands of hair hung loosely from this girl’s head. This girl was me. She was me. Her short figure of 5′3-5′4, her small nose and pinkish lips. She was beautiful. There was one thing in which I didn’t deserve from this girl and that was her smile. I turned around hanging my towel up, opened the bathroom door, and left the fan running to let the air circulate.

I went to my closet and reached for a dry towel and placed it over my pillow for my wet hair. I stared up at the ceiling in thought as I lay in bed. I thought back to when only three days ago I was being beaten up by Axl and now he is dead. _Why can’t wrap my head around the idea that he is no longer living? He is gone. He isn’t worth your time to worry over! Who cares if he died! He deserved it!_

 _Did he really though?_ My other side spoke in defense, _He was just a sad boy with everything wrong in his life..._

_Yeah, but that doesn’t mean he can take it out on me. I hope that bitch burns in hell._

I shook my head to myself: this was pointless to dwell over. Sighing, I moved my hand up to my bedside lamp and twisted the knob, turning the light out. With one last quiet sigh, I turned to face the wall and closed my eyes, falling asleep.


	6. The Double Meaning of a Penny

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Earth to Nixon?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you have made it to chapter 6, congratulations! 
> 
> From now on will be human-written contact with me. If you would rather read this on another platform, I have it published on Inkitt and Wattpad. Please understand that this will probably be the last platform where I will be posting chapters. 
> 
> This book was created in March 2016 and is ongoing at present as of June 2020.
> 
> Feel free to leave Kudos or comments <3

**Nixon**

′ _What the hell?_ ′ I caught myself from falling, quickly spouting back my displeasure, “Fucking watch where you’re going! Gee, all this fucking space, and you still hit me! Damn.” As I looked to see who ran into me, I furrowed my brow. ′ _Cherry..? Really?_ ′ “I’m already late...!” I said, clearly annoyed by the events that have already happened today so far. ′ _I don’t care if it is her! She should’ve been paying attention! This big ass hallway!_ ′

I stuffed my hands in my pockets, clutching my tardy pass in my hand. Closing my eyes, and breathing in deeply, replying angrily, “I mean seriously! You’d think that people around here would know how to walk, but I guess not. Idiot! I don’t even know why I’m wasting my time talking to you. Tch, so ungrateful for the things I do for people...” I turned to leave but this bitch just had to say something. And had the audacity to size me up. ′ _I’d break your fucking back._ ′

“Go fuck yourself! If I’m so pathetic why do you keep talking to me?! Leave me alone! I’ve had enough of you all treating me like some ‘poor creature’!” She added, “You disgust me.” ′ _This bitch..._ ′ I was going to tell her off but as soon as I opened my mouth to speak, the security yelled out and told us to go to class. ′ _Fuck off.._ ′ I held my hands up and flipped him off. “YEAH! I DARE YOU TO DO IT!” I turned and headed to class before he had time to react, leaving Cherry all alone. I made it to class within a minute. It was an inside... outside kind of school. Math and English classes were typically in front of the school. I saw while walking my classroom door was posted open as usual. ‘Ah, fuck. Why couldn’t it be closed?’

Quietly I stalked up to the door, quickly trying to sneak my way into class not to be caught by Mr. Garcia. He is an okay teacher, it’s just... he’s a bit hard on us seniors. He wasn’t looking in my direction when I headed into the class. My classmates sure saw me but didn’t make a fuss over it. ′ _Maybe if I pretend I was here... he’d think he marked me absent by accident._ ′ I walked along the wall, opposite from where Mr. Garcia was... He was typing on his laptop last time I checked. Though.. halfway into the class...

“Mr. Gray, nice of you to join us.” Garcia’s voice suddenly spoke. “Tardy pass?” I stiffed and froze in place, using one of my hands to fish out that tardy pass in my pocket. “Thought I had it this time.” I joked. I walked over and gave him my pass. He studied it for a second before placing it on his desk and crossing his arms. “So, what’s your excuse this time?” He asked, adding, “I don’t want to hear you overslept again.”

I looked to the ceiling, letting out a breath. ′ _He wants to do this.. this way, huh? He can fuck off too._ ′ I sighed and began, “I was being productive with my time, thinking about what I want to do in the future. However, I mistook the time for another and ended up being late. So.. I guess being over-productive.”

“Ah, ah, ah... You can never be over-productive, Mr. Gray. You just need to use your time more wisely. Take this and have a seat.” He said, handing me over what looks like a two paged worksheet. “Hmm..”

‘That went better than expected...’ I took the worksheet and heading to my desk. The second to last row in the back. As I went that way I was greeted by my good friend, Liam Carter. My dear gay friend... Well, he isn’t gay. But I think he is.. or at least bi. Besides, I love teasing him. He was about 5′8, 18 with short curly brown hair and brown eyes. If you’re curious, I’m 6′3 with about shoulder-length black hair. I have it half-shaved right now. The right side has most of my hair and I have a ponytail in, even though it might look short. ′ _I still look good~ At least girls think I do. The ones I slept with anyway, heh.′_ Oh yeah, I have an eye-piercing on my left and snakebites because I’m an edgy motherfucker. .....

“Heyy, Nixon, what took you so long?” He said. “I thought maybe you wouldn’t be coming?”

“No, I was coming. Just didn’t expect to be late today.” I responded, taking a seat. “So, what’s this all about?” I asked, motioning towards the worksheet in my hand. He looked at me hard, then threw his head back, curly hair following, “Some bullshit.” Using hand motions, “Bro, he never went over this in class and expect us to finish it..!” His teeth gritted and he pointed towards a problem on the sheet. “Like what the hell is! Look at this one..! The position of an object at any time t is given by s(t) = 3t4 − 40t3 + 126t2 − 9.” He breathed in, “Also.. this here! Cause solving that part ain’t the whole answer! A. Determine the velocity of the object at any time t. B. Does the object ever stop changing? C. When is the object moving to the right and when is the object moving to the left?”

“Oh, what the fuck?” I responded, now kind of dreading the work. ′ _How the hell? Mr. G! Just teach your class correctly!_ ′ He was one of those teachers who don’t teach. But when he does you still don’t get it. So it’s a lose-lose situation... if you don’t use your phone... sneakily.

“Mr. Gray, raise your hand!” I heard, quickly looking towards Mr. Garcia. My eyes locking with brown orbs. ′ _Oh, it’s her again~ Oh... Where’s she gonna sit?_ ′ My eyes sparkled as she came over and sat next to me. ′ _Totally gonna mess with her._ ′

“Nixon?”

“Nixon..?”

“Hello?!”

“Earth to Nixon?”

I could hear Liam calling me but I ignored him. I’ll end up talking to him a lot later on anyway. All I could do was watch as she seemingly does her work. ′ _You know... she’s kinda cute. With her long hair styled that way. It would be even better if I could pull it_ ~′ She suddenly stopped and looked at me. ′ _Now’s my chance._ ′ I whispered some words to her, not wanting Liam in my business. “What’s up?” I asked. Doesn’t seem she heard me. Oh well, how about I change what I say now. I turned for a second, thinking of what to say. ′ _Ah! I got it! She’s so gonna think I’m a perv~_ ′ I turned to her and smirk, “Your place or mine? Tell you what? I’ll flip a coin. Head at my place..” Looking around quickly, making sure Mr. Garcia isn’t looking, I scooted my desk closer to hers. I leaned into her face, breaking her ‘personal’ bubble. She backed away, flustered a few inches, showing that she didn’t like this, however that’s not going to stop me. I leaned to her ear and finished my sentence, “..and tail at yours.” I winked and moved my desk back to where it was. I felt light, and looked down at my desk, feeling abnormally happy. ′ _It was such a bad line. Why am I smiling?_ ′ I folded my hands into each other, still ignoring Liam, even absently shooing him away. ′ _Heh, she doesn’t even know... huh?_ ′ I thought as I smiled in such a small, simple... way.

**Hours later**

I was still lying in bed. Just staring at the wall in the dark. Today was a tough day but I managed to earn a decent amount of money today. Tutoring kids is where it’s at. Though, tutoring the little brats is so fucking annoying. The young ones at least. The dogs pay well too. But, robbery.. don’t get me started. It can only take twenty-five seconds for a robber to get in and get out. Always going for the master bedroom first. You can bank up to two thousand if you hit the right house. My arms lay behind my head, ′ _Maybe I should reintroduce myself to Cherry...? We really did get off on the wrong foot._ ′ Then, I thought about it. ′ _Nah, I can’t have her stepping on my toes if we’re ever gonna be something. Or I’ll just end up hitting her... again... and again..._ ′ I checked the time on my alarm clock... 2:28 AM I should go to bed before I oversleep again. I sighed, and turned onto my belly, getting comfortable. From there, I slowly fell asleep.

**Morning**

I woke up with the same old routine of waking up, getting ready, and eating breakfast. Nothing really interesting happened. It gets pretty boring here, being by myself. I have a few things to keep me entertained during the day if I’m not working, like playing my guitar, watching TV, or browsing the web on my laptop. Really not a lot to do. I considered getting a pet, but that’s just more money I’ll have to make. Anyway... I’m heading out the door on my way to school. _Maybe Liam and Felix are already there._ I checked the time... 7:04 AM. _Yeah, they should be there already. Maybe we can hang out today._ Twelve minutes later, I’m already on campus, looking for my friends. I changed my mind and went to my locker to gather the books I need today. After that, I was walking to the usual spot I hang with the boys when I swear I saw Cherry for a second, even stopping in my tracks to see if it’s her. _Ah, it is her. I wonder what’s she gonna do today. Maybe I should say hi._ As I headed her way, I stopped in my tracks again, brows furrowing. _Why is he with her?_


	7. Blur

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jackson is persistent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We have up to 253 chapters, however, since late 2018, we have been tirelessly editing them. 
> 
> Currently, we are working on chapter 25. 
> 
> The outcome will be worth it :)

**Cherry**

The next morning I woke up late. My phone wasn’t beside my bed and my alarm clock hadn’t been set: so in short, I’m an idiot. For a start, I threw the covers off me and tripped over them on my way over to the closet, grabbing the first article of clothing I saw. My jeans were yanked out my dresser drawer almost causing the whole thing to tip over and crush me. _What a way to start this morning!_ After rushing around my bathroom to make my hair a little decent and brush my teeth, I raced down the steps, skipping a few and almost landing on the bottom. I made a beeline for my phone on the countertop (half dead), grabbed my bag by the front door, dug out my keys, locked the door, and ran like hell to school. I entered the school hallway panting out of breath as I tried to regain my composure as to not draw attention to myself.

Once my racing heart calmed I glanced around suddenly interested in what everyone was gossiping so loud about. The name ‘Axl’ came up a few times along with the word ‘death’ while some gave me stares that lasted a little too long for my liking. _Of course, they’re going to assume I murdered him- just like the cops! They all know he has been bullying me and yet they think that I deserved it. You know what? Fuck them! I don’t need this bullshit in my life!_ “I bet she’s the one that killed him, she was always alone with him, right?” I heard from one blue-haired girl, pretending to whisper to a guy next to her as I walked by toward my locker. A small growl escaped my lips, but I kept a lookout for- _Oh, wait, he’s dead._ Every day it seems like it gets a little harder to imagine I won’t be turning my back every five seconds to see if he is there, lurking with those pain-hungry eyes. _I wonder who killed him?_

I didn’t turn around when I heard the noise of feet strutting over to me, fearing that maybe... just _maybe_ it was Axl and maybe he was coming for revenge. Maybe he was- “Hey, darling.” _That is not Axl... but, then who...?_ I turned around surprised to see someone else was there leaning against the locker opposite mine and smiling, _smiling_ with those perfect white teeth of his. He had the nerve to wink at me; it even felt strange to admit that Mr. Gray’s flirtatious wink from yesterday looked a lot better than this royal pompous’ ass.

“What do you want? Haven’t you heard the rumors?” I asked genuinely curious, brushing off his flirt. His laugh sounded awkward like he was trying to force it to seem more imputed into the topic before he coughed and cleared his throat, still awkwardly. He pulled his shirt down more, me watching as he did so, his shirt sleeve riding up and revealing his muscled arms. He coughed once more until I looked back at him, blushing, and glanced back into my locker trying to mentally wipe the heat off from my cheeks in embarrassment.

“So listen, I know it’s early but when it comes around do you maybe...

“Do you want to go to prom with me?” I looked at him surprised. _Whoa! WHAT?_ He looked a bit shameful and scratched at the back of his head before continuing: “I don’t need an answer right away! I mean, it’s still months from now, but I thought I’d ask now before, you know, someone else does.”There were a couple of gasps around me and I could hear a few angry whispers trailing around the group that had surrounded us. When I looked to my left I saw Mr. Gray and it looked like he was glaring at him, but when he turned to look at me there was something in his gaze that pulled at my heartstrings. He broke the connection as he turned away to leave, leaving me a bit confused. I grabbed the rest of my things from my locker and closed the small door, holding my books close to my chest; I looked up to Jackson with a half-smile and walked away.

“Hey! Wait, please?!” I heard him yell as I continued down the hallway to Mrs. English’s class, trying to calm my nerves down as I passed every hostile body in my vicinity. _OMG. What just happened?! Hell to the no am I going to prom with him! That was so weird? I thought he was just being nice that one day... but now he seems a bit stalkerish._

I turned the corner and when I was sure no one was around and Jackson was still following, I turned around and (lucky enough for me he was close enough) slapped him. “I’m not some toy you think you can play around with and then toss to the side. Find some other girl to go with. Please, don’t speak to me ever again.”

He laughed. A real laugh, not the awkward one from before, “Whoa there! Listen, I know I should have stepped in sooner to stop the bullying, but I thought it wouldn’t do any good.”

_Bull. Shit. What does this have to do with me saying no?_

“Just... think about it, okay? I really like you, a lot.” He said while placing his hands on my shoulders, causing a slight curl to my lips and a start of a snarky retort.

_“Please?”_

I sighed, shaking his hands off my shoulders and placed my hand on my forehead in exasperation; then, I finally responded with a drawled out, _“Fine._ I’ll think about it. _"_ _My answer is already no._

When I arrived at Mrs. English’s class she seemed more angry than usual and decided to give us, the whole class, a seven-page essay about the Cold War. “Turn it in before the end of class!” She demanded before sitting back down in her seat and plugging earphones into her ears.

**Hours Later...**

After about 30 minutes into my 6th period, I really had to use the bathroom. I raised my hand and my media teacher, Mr. Dean, gave me the hall pass, signing the time and his signature. _Some bullshit if you ask me._ On my way to the restroom, I stopped to have a drink from the water fountain, taking my time so I wouldn’t have to get back to class early.

After doing my business, I washed my hands and walked out of the bathroom still taking my time, because _we literally do nothing in this class._ I was playing a game on my phone while I made my way back and almost didn’t see someone standing in front of me. Quickly stopping before making a fool of myself once again, I locked my phone and looked up at... _Jackson?_ He stood there awkwardly for a moment, stuttering over his words like a little schoolboy before sighing and spouting out, “Who was that guy that was at your locker?!” Bewildered, I put one foot back and had my arms up against my chest in case I had to hit him again.

“Do you know who he is?? He was snooping around your locker like he was looking for something.” I shook my head slowly, only one thought coursing through my head, _Why was he by my locker in the first place?_ I was about to question this out loud when he suddenly changed the subject.

“Anyway, I was going to wait until after school to ask you, but have you decided on that prom proposal yet?” I looked to him disgruntled as I backed away a little more still uncomfortable being near him. So, that’s why he was by my locker! _Oh, come on! What was I kidding? Why did I agree to this?!_

“Sweets?” I scowled at the nickname as he smiled unnaturally sweet at me. _What is up with these nicknames?_ “Oh, now don’t be like that! After all, I am the only one in your lonely, sad world who will ever love you. Just accept it... _darling._ "

I bared my teeth, “Excuse m- Before I could get my point across he grabbed my waist and pull me back away from the other classrooms around a corner, throwing me against the wall. He looked around before placing his hands on either side of me, flinching as I turned my chin up to look at him only to see his blue eyes staring right back at me

“You’re coming home with me, or...... I _could_ tell everyone at school about your little secret.” The hairs on the back of my neck stood up and my body tensed, _what is he talking about?_

I stuttered, “Wait one minute...! What secret are you raving about?” I’d forgotten how close he was to me until he turned his head away to fish something out of his pockets; only then could I breathe correctly. He took out his phone, shoving his bright screen into my face with a photo brought upon it, and that, my friend, was a picture of someone’s... dick. _Unless..._

“Remember this?”

My eyes widened for a split second before they narrowed in humor. “What about it? You find joy in taking pictures of your penis?”

“What?” He looked down at his phone and cursed, then screaming, “NO!” before sliding his finger to the side and shoving it back in my face, “This!” There was a picture of my father dealing with some gang members and there was me right behind him. _Holy shit._ This was years ago when I was maybe 10 or 12 and I was still affiliated with my father who, by the way, is a fucking bastard; he brought me out to his meetings multiple times to deal guns and drugs with strangers apart of gangs, trying to get himself known and be apart of those gangs too. While it was years ago, knowing the students at this school they’ll be asking me for drugs and saying who-knows-what behind my back. He swiped through a few more photos when his phone dinged with the message: “20% Low Battery”. Jackson sighed and put his phone away, placing both hands on either side of my head again as if he was trying to intimidate me with his height.

I shakily replied, wobbling a little as I coward into the wall... I felt... defeated. “Where did you get those photos? Who took those photos??” I was so lost. _I don’t remember seeing anyone taking photos that night._ Then again, I was scared shitless.

“It doesn’t matter. I have my connections, but you don’t need to worry about that...”

“They won’t believe you! It’s so clear... It’s so clear that I wasn’t involved with any of it!”

He laughed sickly, “You think I believe that bull crap? Do you think they’ll believe that shit? You better come with me. I’ll be waiting at the side entrance.” Leaning down with a smirk, he kissed my forehead, “See you tomorrow after school, my darling”, and sauntered away. _Ugh... I can’t believe my life has come to this._

Pushing myself off the wall, I began my walk back to the classroom with my arms wrapped around each other and face twisted in fear when a familiar face rounded the corner, “Oh!” I stopped to say ‘hi’ and he returned my timid smile.

“Hi there, little lady.” _O...kay._ Scrunching my face in discontent, we stood there in silence until he raised his hand, palm up as if asking for my... hand?

As if reading my mind, he asked, “Hand?” _Oh! He was! WTF._

“Mmm.. what for?” I asked, hesitantly raising my hand to hover over his. Before I could pull back in shyness, he grabbed a hold of my wrist and slide his hand down to fit into mine, bringing it up to his lips to kiss my knuckles. _UMM-_

“Pleasure meeting you again.” He winked and I suddenly couldn’t control my body from stopping the blush forming on my cheeks. _I’m going to die here._ I pulled away quickly, thinking back to Jackson and what he had shown me.

“Um, yeah. Haha...” He looked at me strangely before smiling again and stood up to his full height which was _fucking tall_ before deciding to get _on his knees?!_ He grabbed for both of my hands and grinned ear to ear at my red face. _WHAT IS HAPPENING?!_

“..ah..” He bit his lip, the expression on his face, seeming as if he was struggling about what to say. “I’m going to be fucking real with you. I want a relationship, so go out with me.”

“Now I know I came off as some fuckboy yesterday in Mr. Garcia’s class... but I was just fucking with ya..” He laughed then quieted down. “I’m a good guy, I work almost daily.. um.. This is hard, huh?” I heard him mumbled, scratching his stubble.

“Oh, I’m Nixon, by the way. Nixon Gray..” He looked at me oddly but continued, “So...uh what do you say..?” Something about the look in his eyes made me feel as if he won’t take ‘no’ for an answer.

“No.” He sat there for a moment before squeezing my hands and standing back up. I watched him- every move: letting my hand go, standing, a cross look in his eyes while I went back to holding myself- the silence was killing me. We stared at each other for a minute, but I was the first to break eye contact when I felt my eyes beginning to water, he scoffed in amusement.

“‘No’? ...hmm we’ll see about that.”

I followed him with my eyes as he walked away and, once he was out of sight, begin to trek back to the hell called Mr. Dean. The rest of the day and night was a blur.


	8. Cigarettes and Confessions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nixon is scolded for involving himself with another girl.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you are confused about the change of views and have any questions, feel free to ask and we will answer.
> 
> The layout is new to many and it can be considered a sort of "roleplay layout".
> 
> The intension is to provide different views on a topic, show how they vary from person-person and it's entertainment.
> 
> The idea is forged on the fact that it does not matter what your lifestyle is, someone out there will be willing or otherwise to love you.

**Nixon**

Even though, I’m curious, _very curious_ about what they were talking about. Last time I checked, Cherry never really talked... to anyone. So for the most popular guy in school to suddenly talk to her is sort of.. well _strange_. Anyway, I trotted to Mr. Garcia’s class, making it on time today. I went over to my desk sitting next to my best buddy, Liam.

“Yo, Nix..!” He says, “What’s up? Finally made it on time, huh?” He flashed a cheeky smile, his brown eyes showing amusement. I gave off a soft smile, “Hehe, I can’t be late all the time... My grades are going to screw me if I’m not careful.” I laid my head in my hand, looking at his direction. _We have a few minutes before the class actually starts._ “I’m just a little distracted today,” I admitted it, it is really bothersome thinking about them. Liam’s amusement faded, being replaced with slight concern. He turned himself towards me and laid his arms across his chest. _Ah, he’s worried now._ “Tell me about.” Liam’s always like this. Always looking out for his friend’s health. He is a good guy. A lovely guy if any of his female friends would say. He’s very sweet and maybe a little too timid towards others, that he doesn’t really know. But he pulls through in whatever the situation. For example, years ago.. we had this big English assignment where we had to present an article about the Hiroshima bombing. I had forgotten to bring my flashcards, so Liam and I came up with a plan.

He had given blank flashcards to use, for it to seem as if I was reading off of them. Meanwhile, he wrote notes on his notebook in a black permanent marker, big enough for me to see. When I was up to present, I was basically reading off of what he wrote. He didn’t get caught because our classmates weren’t snitches plus he kept them near the floor so our English teacher couldn’t see them. At the end of it, I had gotten a C while he had gotten a B. So we both made it. We help each other a lot. I glanced at Liam, only briefly before facing forward and closing my eyes to think. Once, I thought of what to say, I opened them slightly, “Well, there’s this gir- “Oh no here you go again..” Liam started looking annoyed, “What about a girl got you so distracted? I already know you’re going to sleep with her.”

I turned toward him, “No.. it’s not like... that..” I say quietly. I had a bit of a reputation with the ladies. Not that I used and abused them. We just had ‘fun’ briefly. A one-time thing, we both agreed to. But I stopped that life, about a year ago because I don’t just want to be anyone’s daddy. I want to choose my partner carefully. “It’s different,” I added awkwardly blushing. Liam’s eyes shined with such interest. _Maybe I shouldn’t have said that_. “Is my friend Nixon, the Dark Knight himself, in love?” He says dramatically, keeping his voice low. _Yeah, shouldn’t have said that_. “I guess you could say that..”

Liam reached a hand and placed it onto my arm resting on the desk. “You should ask her out then? Go for it.” I looked at his hand on my arm and pulled back. “You know, that was kind of gay?” I chuckled. His expression turned into confusion. “How?” I rolled my eyes, a small smile making way onto my face. “Putting your hand on another man’s arm with that look on your face. I mean if you want you could keep it there if it makes you happy..!” He became red in the face, his brows furrowed in annoyance. “I’m not gay, just trying to support you as a ‘friend’!” _Pfft, yeah right_. “Just ask her out the worst thing that could happen is that she says no.” He went on. I was quiet. _Hm, maybe going right up to her and asking her out is a bit much_. I sat rubbing my stubble, thinking.

_RIIIIIINNNNNNG_

_That’s the bell_. Mr. Garcia started a lesson I paid no mind to. Everyone else in the class seemed to have settled down, getting their stuff out. I did the same grabbing my math book and a notebook, putting them on my desk. _Oh_... _I kno-_

“Nixon, uh did you do the notes yesterday for Mrs. Johnson?” A voice says, _Liam_. “Uh yeah, here,” I replied. I went into my bookbag and picked up my economics notebook. I handed it to Liam, “Thanks.” I simply responded with, “No problem.” Math worksheets were passed down to us. _This shit again... ugh why do you hate us, Mr. G_?! _What formula is this now? I might as well start._

**Hours later**

“Mr. Gray. The counselor wants to see you. Take your stuff.” Mrs. Johnson calls out. I raised a hand, “Alright.” I quickly put my stuff in my bag and stood up. A hand clamped onto my shirt stopping me from moving further. I turned to see who it is. And it’s Liam... again. We have a few of the same classes. Economics is one of them. “Seems like those tardies are catching up with you.” He joked. “Eh, something was going to happen,” I replied. I pulled away from him and headed towards the counselor’s office. Now I was in the back section of the school. The counselor’s office... well, my counselor’s office was at the front of the school where most of the math classes were. On the way, I remembered hearing a few of my classmate, _female_ classmates rave about Jackson asking someone out. I’m not sure why it was such a big thing... until I pieced it together. _Oh hell no. He better not have asked her out. Damnit, I can’t let him woo my girl._ Anyway, it took me five minutes to reach the office. The door was usually always open. I knocked on the door once. A blonde-haired female, looked up from her desk, stopping what she was doing on her laptop. Mrs. West.

“Mr. Gray, have a seat.” She motioned towards the two seats in front of her desk. I did as told and had a seat. “I assume you already know why I called you here.” She said. I sighed, leaned back loosely, “Yeah, it’s about my tardies, isn’t it?” I looked at her and she nodded her head. She quickly typed something on her laptop and began, “What’s the problem? What’s stopping you from getting to school on time?” She asked, then added, “You only have tardies for your first period.”

I breathed deeply, looking towards the ceiling. _Ugh, now I have to explain_.. “Look, I’m nineteen and I live alone. I have to work really hard to keep my apartment. Sometimes I’m just really tired and sleep through my alarms. I try.. I can’t really get here early unless I have a car. I walk here every day since I don’t live too far. I’m trying.”

She looked at me sternly, “Is there any way I can help with? As your counselor, it’s my job to make sure you can get your education.” She tapped her fingers, absentmindedly on her desk. “If needed I can give you a ride here.”

 _Yeah, get in a vehicle with a stranger_. “No, that won’t be necessary. I’ll just go to sleep earlier and set more alarms.” I responded. “I can get to school on time, just been procrastinating a lot lately... with stuff going on in life.” _Like my love life._

Mrs. West’s eyes flashed with worry, “Why don’t you stay with your parents? You said you live alone. ” Out of all the questions you could have asked, you ask that question. I quickly responded with, “I don’t want to talk about. It personal.” I crossed my arms and stared at her, showing I won’t budge. “It’s nothing serious. Just my choice.”

**20 minutes later**

Finally, I’m out of there! Counselors are so annoying. Gee, now I have to come to school or else she’ll call me back in there. Damn... I started back to my class. On my way, I decided to stop by Cherry’s locker and drop something off before a security guard comes around. It didn’t take long to find it, simply going off basic memory. I remember her getting books out of this one... I stopped in front of it, observing it. I can’t pick this. And I certainly can open it without my tools, besides someone might see me. But I can... I slipped my bookbag off and reached into it, pulling out a sheet of paper. I used the lockers as my hard surface and wrote something just for Cherry. _Jack isn’t getting any part of her. I’ll make sure of it._

After I finished I folded it into a small rectangle and slid it through the slit of the locker. Happy with myself I picked my things up and went to my class for real this time. _I can’t waste too much time or else I have some serious catching up to do_. On my way back, I ran into a few security guards asking me, “Where are you going? Who’s your teacher? Where did you come from?” I just responded with, “Leaving the counselor's office.” And then that was that. I thought it would be a quick journey here and back but fate didn’t work out that way. I could hear voices, ...talking... but couldn’t hear what they were saying behind this left corner. I could, however, _identified_ the voices. It was Jackson and Cherry. I carefully glanced around the corner, only to see Jackson leaving and Cherry leaned against the wall. I quickly leaned back as soon as I realized she was heading towards me... well my directions. I backed up and decided to pretend I was just walking forward and stopped when she turned the corner. “Oh!” She seemed surprised and smiled shyly.

I gave a small smile back and bent down to her level, “Hi there, little lady.” Fucking idiot! What happened to the confident aura you had yesterday!? This is not how you talk to girls! And we were stuck in awkward silence as she was visibly uncomfortable. I then raised my hand up, asking for hers, she hesitated and almost pulled away so I grabbed her wrist before she could. After that, I brought it up to my lips and kissed it. I began, winking, “Pleasure meeting you again.” I loved that expression on her face, pure embarrassment. She pulled away right after. _Hm, maybe a bit weird but I gotta beat Jack somehow_. “Um, yeah. Haha...” I observed her and stood up no longer bending down. I grabbed both of her hands in a firm grip before getting down on my knees as to not look so intimidating, trying hard not to let my angry resting face kick in.

I begin to speak, uncomfortably, “..ah..” _What to say? What to say?_ I bit my lip as I thought, feeling the cool metal of my snakebites on my upper lip. _Fuck it._ “I’m going to be fucking real with you. I want a relationship, so go out with me.”

“Now I know I came off as some fuckboy yesterday in Mr. Garcia’s class... but I was just fucking with ya..” I laughed in a joking sense then quieted down right after. “I’m a good guy, I work almost daily.. um.. This is hard, huh?” I muttered quietly, scratching my stubble “Oh, I’m Nixon, by the way. Nixon Gray..” I looked at her again and continued, “So...uh what do you say..?” Even if she says no, I’ll still persist.

“No.” I knew that was going to happen, though it still hurts... a little. I stood there, lost in thought, squeezed her soft little hands, and stood up. I let them go and became a little annoyed. After all the shit I went through to get your attention..! And by that I mean murder Axl! We stood there staring at each other before she broke eye contact. I scoffed, finding it funny. _For me a criminal to actually like someone like her..! I should just kill her. But.. that wouldn’t be any fun no would it, ha. Like she can actually get away from me, we’ll see about that._

“‘No’? ...hmm we’ll see about that.” With that last sentence, I went to class. I made it in time to collect our homework assignments for the night. I have to work today as well. I don’t have to.. but it’s just more money in my pocket that I can save for next month or actually buy something like... some Monsters or Red Bull. Maybe even some cigs.. hm...


	9. Stonewall Way

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Catherian reads Nixon's note and then it's forgotten.  
> \---  
> If you or someone else is the victim of a kidnapping please call your local law enforcement first and then call the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children: (800) 843-5678

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The writing styles can sync up, but they can be completely different at times. That's okay because different is what makes it alive.

**Cherry**

Yesterday’s events kept me up all night and the next day at school didn’t fare any better. Except... occasionally, I spotted Nixon Gray with his friends, some were girls touching and giggling at him while two of them were guys. _Oh and now he’s laughing... and...... it’s starting to look super cute with that smile and those piercings pulling at his lips... OH FUCK! He’s looking over! Look away! Look away!_ I darted to my next class in total embarrassment.

Right now it is the end of the day and I was heading to my locker with a sort of sluggish pace. Taking a deep breath, I reached my locker and unlocked it, setting my bag on the floor to start pulling my textbooks out. What I didn’t expect was a folded piece of paper to fall out of my locker, and drop in front of my feet. I set my textbooks down half in the locker and bent don to pick it up from the ground. Standing up, I unfolded the paper to find a kind of messy note written inside:

Hey, it’s me again. Gray. You might get this after class. I don’t know. But... I’m still interested. We can talk this out. Oh and sorry for being weird... I wasn’t sure how to respond so if you’d like... you could text me... We don’t have to go out. We could be friends...... []-[];

(XXX) XXX - 1402

Funny how he only writes his last name.. what if I’d forgotten his first name? _Jesus, I dwell too much on things..._ It’s pretty nice that he apologized, but I’m the one who rejected him... _It would be nice to talk first before getting involved in the dating world again._ I couldn’t help to ponder: _what if he leaves me before I even get to know him? The real him. Like John did._

I didn’t realize how long I was standing there until I saw a couple of teachers walked past me to go to the teacher parking lot. Pulling out my phone I inputted Nixon’s number and for the fun of it, I put a devil emoji by his name. Folding the paper up and fixing my textbooks to fit into the locker, I put the note into my pants’ pocket and secured my locker back up. Grabbing my bag off the ground, the walk to the side entrance of the school seemed shorter than usual... _Maybe I’m just nervous?_ The time on my phone read 3:09 PM by the time I made it to the doors and put it on silent in my back pocket.. _just in case._ I had a moment’s hesitation before, while mentally scolding myself, I pushed the heavy door open.

Jackson came into view leaning against the far right side wall: a can of some energy drink in his right hand and his phone in the other, a teasing smile on his face. I suddenly felt like a little girl in the presence of a schoolboy crush, knowing full well that I would be rejected; but this is Jackson we’re talking about and he wouldn’t just reject someone without something in mind. Jackson looked up and I had to quickly erase the distaste off my face before he noticed. His gaze was scrutinizing, and upon seeing my discomfort a grin began to build upon his face, and with it the 6 most vile words I wish never left _his_ mouth, “Are you ready to go home?” Surprise, disbelief, and then anger crossed my features as I processed what he’d said to me. Forming my hands into a fist I thought about throwing a good punch or at least a slap (like earlier) and making a run for it. Then I thought about the photos and the chaos that would transpire if anything about my father got out. I relaxed my hands, with much consideration, and observed him as he strolled over. He still wore a smug smile on his face as he reached his arm out to wrap it around my waist, resting his hand on my hip.

“Well?” He asked, a hint of impatience in his voice. Unable to find words I gulped and reluctantly nodded my head ‘yes’. I was looking down at this point not having the courage to stare into his eyes. Unfortunately, he had other plans.

Jackson threw his can to the ground and proceeded to grab my face roughly pulling it so I would look up at him, his arm still curled around my body. His eyes inspected mine with such intensity I tried pulling away but he would not allow this. We stayed in this position until he sighed, his breath smelling like fresh spicy mint and green ( _typical_ ), and bared his teeth, “I want to hear you say it.” Spotting the slight cure to his brow and the dangerous glint in his eyes I knew that if I didn’t say what he wanted to hear now, he would most likely do something worse.

“Yes,” I said.

“Yes, what?” He slyly remarked, a growl slipping past his thin lips.

“Yes, I will go home with you.” I tried again, holding back the look of disgust on my face.

“You will? Or you want to?”

I couldn’t hold it back any longer and sputtered in disbelief, “You- you and your damn ego! Let’s just leave already!” He didn’t budge and he wouldn’t let go of my face, a look of anticipation in his eyes as he awaited the words he wanted to hear leave my trembling lips.

Sucking in a breath of minty air, _ugh..._ I bashfully told him, “I want to go home with you, Jackson.” Satisfied with my response he let my chin go with a rough shove to the side, but still kept a firm grip on my waist so that I could not move away. Crushing the empty can under his foot he said a quiet “let’s go” and practically dragged me against him to his ‘house’. _Are we even going to his house?_

A mistake on my part, I made it pretty obvious that I was trying to remember where we were going in case I ever got free of his caging arms. Jackson caught on quickly and decided, as a last resort, to randomly pull out a black cloth from his seemingly large pockets and use it to hinder my eyesight. “Don’t be getting any ideas, now- he’d said, adding, “you better enjoy the feel of the sun while it lasts.” The only person I could blame was myself, leaving me with one last option. I still had my phone and the only person that could help me now was mysterious Mr. Gray. _I need some sort of distraction... maybe when he isn’t looking... Mom is no help in this situation since she is all the way in Italy. But those pictures... ugh! Why didn’t you take me on your trip Mom!_

‘Why not call the cops?’ You ask. Well, seeing as my past is a fucked up maze of confusion, there are a lot of reasons why I do not go to the cops. Jackson yanked me a little way, shattering my thoughts of finding a way to escape and complaining about my position, and then stopped. He started to talk with someone... but where was the person he was talking to? There was nobody out here last time I checked! He took the back way...!

The sound of a car engine rolling reached my ears and I heard a car window roll down, “Take us to *4056 Stonewall Way*- and keep this from my father. I don’t want him trampling all over my plans.” The window rolled up and Jackson pulled me to him, opened the car door, and roughly shoved me into a leather car seat, a blast of cold A.C. hitting me in the face. _Thank goodness I am not wearing a dress. Praise the almighty jeans!_ The door was slammed shut, and, what sounded like the passenger side in front of me, another door opened and slammed shut.

“Drive.” The wheels of the car screeched against the gravel, causing me to cringe and Jackson to curse out the driver before he went back to whatever he was doing. Coincidently, the cloth was easier to see through now that we were out of the sun. This was perfect! Jackson was turned away and focused on his phone once more and the driver was, well... driving; so, I reached back slowly............ and slipped my phone out of my back pocket. The brightness was up but I was quick to turn it down, glancing up to see if Jackson or the driver had noticed my movements. _Nope!! Score!_ Quickly, I swiped my phone open, thanking myself for not putting a password in, and went straight to Nixon’s contact. Before clicking the button I pondered, _This is going to be super weird.... why would he help me after I just rejected him?? Isn’t it weird to expect him to help me? I should be handling this myself... ugh!_

Shaking my head (mentally, because both of them definitely would have seen that) I pressed “share my location” and texted the address, in which the first two numbers because that was all I could remember.

Me: “Shared Location”

Me: address is 40 something... SOS

The location should calculate it for him... hopefully.


	10. The Brick Wall to Rosebery Falls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At least she saved the number

**Nixon**

Nothing really happened after encountering Cherry and leaving that note in her locker. I went back to class and did what I had to do. Of course, I had to explain what happened to Liam but that was about it. And then he proceeded to lecture me just like Mrs. West about my tardies. He even attempted to make it his job to pick me up every morning so I won’t be late. I rejected the idea, _not that I don’t want him to pick me up,_ I think it’s more of a hassle for me. Besides, _I hate being woken up_. I just told him, I’ll do better since it’s starting to catch up with me. _I wonder if they contacted my mom yet_. That’s what they usually do. Anyway, the rest of the day went by a breeze. I received homework from my math and English class. Any other work I had, I finished in class before the bell rang.

I plucked up my bookbag and grabbed ahold of my textbooks. I trotted out of the classroom, past my fellow classmates, and made way to my locker. I quickly open it up and crammed my textbooks into it. As I closed my locker and turned around. I was greeted by a short 5′8 (in comparison to me) blonde with hazel eyes. He had short hair styled into a faux hawk. This blonde was another friend of mine, his name was Felix. Felix King. He was an 11th grader who made it his job to hang out with me and Liam who was with him as well. We met in a language class last year. I spoke to him once and he never let me go. Eventually, he met Liam and they became friends. So instead of a dou, we have a trio. Felix was one of those ‘hyperactive’ guys who always want to.. well have fun. Though that can quickly become annoying (in my case). One time during a hangout, he thought it would be a good idea to prank me while I was asleep. The prank was to scare me awake by putting fireworks in a pot and lighting it. That clearly didn’t end well. Since he did that to me, yeah I was scared for the moment. So I thought it was a good idea to smother him with a pillow. Which I did. Luckily for him. Liam was there to stop me.

Anyway, I said my greetings, and we began to hang around my locker, talking about life or what we’re planning to do later. Soon after we decided to hang out at Liam’s place. Felix soon said he had to go get something from his locker, Liam and I followed suit. As we headed toward his locker, a group of four girls came right up to us. More specifically, me. We boys curiously looked them up and down. Liam was the first to speak, “Can we help you?”

One of the girls, a dirty blonde, stepped forward, sporting a white hoodie seemingly attached to a jean jacket. She wore short jeans and long black stockings. She was rather attractive in my eyes. We followed her movements. She seemed a bit nervous. She looked up straight at me. Wow, she’s short. I’d say about 5′5 or 5′6. She scratched behind her ear, her friends? Looked like they were trying to encourage her. “We have been in the same classes for a long time since tenth and I always was so nervous to talk to you.” She paused, looking away for a quick second, then back, “I was wondering if you’d be interested in going out?”

 _Oh.. That’s crazy. I just asked someone out yesterday and got rejected. And now someone is asking me out. What’s going on here._ She twiddled her fingers looking towards the ground. I smiled, not my sparkling smile, just a regular smile. I bit my lip as I responded, the boys looking surprised. Probably because they didn’t expect this to happen out of all things. “I can’t give you an answer yet..” She looked up at me, expectantly. “But... I’ll think about it.” I poked my tongue out, revealing a tongue piercing and winked. “Who knows, I’m a man of mystery}” I ran a hand through my hair. I sent her a seductive gaze then directed my attention to my friends. “What?” I said, confused at the faces they were giving me. “Last time I checked, you said you weren’t going to do that again?” Liam teased. I chuckled. “I’m serious,” I said. “Yeah, that look certainly didn’t seem all that friendly, if you catch my drift.” Felix jumped in. “What do you mean? ’You weren’t doing that again.” One of the girls in the group asked. Felix gave a sly smirk before saying, “Oh, he was a man-whore.” I laughed, covering my face with my hands, almost bashfully. I quickly interceded, “I just used to go out ‘a lot’. Like date and all, ladies.” I joked, earning a few giggles here and there. I laughed, covering my face with my hands, almost bashfully. “Look, I’ll think about. I’ll see you around.” I waved them away, laughing with my friends as we continued to Felix’s locker. “So are you actually going to go out with her?” Questioned Liam. “Pfft, no. I have someone else in mind. I don’t even know her name.”

“Geez, why didn’t you say no then?” Felix said. “It’ll be better that way than to have her find out the hard way.” I snorted, “Cause I don’t want to.” Liam poked at my side and then leaned towards Felix, “He’s just mad because he got rejected yesterday.” I tuned them out, enough of their shenanigans. I looked to my left and saw my _sunshine_. Sweet Cherry standing over there randomly. _Oh, look at her. So pretty_ ~ She turned quickly away and left in another direction. Anyway, nothing really happened after we spoke to the girls. Liam left to get his car. Felix and I headed to the parking lot, hopped in, and went to Liam’s house. Once we were there, we hung out in his room. His mom was home, she brought us plenty of snacks. She was really nice. Anyway, we were talking about going somewhere for the summer. As we were doing that, I felt my phone vibrated. I pulled it out of my pocket and checked it. _This number wants to share its location with you._

 _Huh? Who is this?_ I was going to ignore it but it seems like I have a text message as well. I checked that too. It was from the same number. _40 something? SOS? What the hell_? I thought for a moment, _The only person I ever gave my number to is Catherine... And if this is here, for instance, then she might be in.. trouble? That would explain the SOS. Or maybe it’s some prank._ I shook my head, turning on my location (Cause I keep it off for obvious reasons) _No that can’t be it. She didn’t really talk to anyone and I don’t think she’s the type. Hm.. you know what? It’s worth checking out._ With that, I stood up from Liam’s desk chair. “I gotta go, guys, mom’s coming over in an hour.” I lied. “Bye! Tell her I said hi.” Felix waved, absentmindedly.

“Okay, tell her I said hi too,” Liam spoke softly while doing homework on his bed. “No worries, I will,” I responded, clutching my bookbag close and heading out. Walking down the street, I went to find my friend's app and typed in 40. If I remember carefully, if I type this in it’ll tell me the exact location of this number. It quickly gave me the address of 4056 Stonewall Way. _What the fuck? I know where that’s at. It’s where the rich people live. They have security cameras, walled fences, and a guardhouse. How am I to get in there?_ The phone says she is in there. Fuck it. That’s why I always keep extra gloves in my bag. I reached my hand into my backpack and grabbed a pair of black gloves. I slipped them on, felt for my knife in my pocket, and continued to Cherry’s location.

**30 minutes later**

I arrived at Rosebery Falls. You can’t really see the inside of it from the wall off the fence. I walked around the property looking for any weak spots. Usually, there is at least one. But I didn’t find.. well anything. It was pretty walled off. But some walls never stopped me. Eh? People don’t seem to care what some high schooler does half of the time. It was near a busy road which made my next move a bit risky. I found some bushes and jumped up. Failing two times before I managed to get a grip on the ledge. From there I hoisted myself up and over the walled fence. _Great! I’m in_. I stood in the shade under some trees. I took my phone back out and checked the location again. She should be over there in this direction _Now to avoid almost everyone._


	11. Pleasantries Not Wanted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> .

**Cherry**

The car ride was short and unluckily for me, even though I could see a little bit through the cloth, I couldn’t see a whole lot out the window. At this point, I was anticipating the sunlight to scorch my eyes by the time I stepped out, but then I thought about it and realized that it’d probably be dark by the time I got out. _His home is… it doesn’t sound familiar._ Then again, I could care less where we’re going- it obviously wasn’t anyway where good since Jackson is here. The driver, who’s name I will never know since Jackson refers to him as “shithead!” every five minutes; he turned corners and cut across cross-sections multiple times that I started to wonder _where the actual fuck are we going? it shouldn’t take this long!_ When really, it felt like a long ass time; only a few minutes had passed. I wasn’t sure if this was Jackson’s idea of trying to confuse my sense of the location or if this was really the way.

A humongous house came into view before I had time to check out the security staff as we went through the heavily guarded gate. There were at least five of them checking inside everyone’s cars and I.D’s… But all Jackson had to do was demand his driver to roll the window down, shove the drivers head out the way and show his smiling face to the guard. And they ate that shit up, let us right in! They didn’t even spare me a glance! _Is kidnapping normal around here?!_ No wonder why society is fucked up! It’s because of selfish rich brats like Jackson corrupt the whole fucking system! I’d take a man sentenced to prison for murder over a man like Jackson any day.

It didn’t take Jackson long to order his driver around again and have him park the car up the long-ass driveway, without turning the car off; most likely he had to park it in a separate garage. The driveway had to be at least half a mile long. _Who needs this much car space?!_ I readied myself as the car was parked and the driver prepared to open my side of the door. _Sorry, buddy…_ I started to lift my leg eager to hit _something_ , even though this man probably gets beat constantly judging by the purple bruising on his dark skin, but then Jackson pushed open his door and shoved the man away shouting, “NO! I’ll take her! Just get back in the damn vehicle and park it in the service garage before I have to tell my father of your disobedience again!” There was a small “Yes, my lord” from his sunken form before he went back to the driver's side, while I was stuck sitting there like a frazzled duck. _My Lord?? How rich is this guy?!_

Jackson stood by the door for a moment and from what I could see being that his skin was pale as snow, the sun seemed to be sinking to the other side of the sky. _It must be 4:30 PM by now, huh?_ He pulled my door open only to find my foot bashing into his abdomen. “Argh!” _Fuck my bag, I’m out of here!_ I made a mad dash down the driveway not making the mistake every horror movie character makes: looking back, Except ... that was my mistake. Had I looked back I would have noticed Jackson ordering his driver after me. Thus, when I heard the rumble of the car engine and the bump again my back, it was already too late. I turned to see the driver regretfully gazing back. _He wouldn’t dare!!!_

Oh, but he did.

Speeding up he turned the car quickly in front of me causing my feet to stop short and tumble over the hood of the car. “Fuck!” Another thing: I still had the ‘blindfold’ on, so maybe this could have been avoided had I not been so stupid and just taken the damn thing off. Instead, I’m lying here, too stunned to move, and the driver hovering over me, calling out a name. It didn’t matter to me if it was Jackson or fucking God descending from Hell; all I knew was that my head hurt like shit and my chest ached. Do you want to know the worst thing about that? I landed on my front. Sure, you could say my breasts saved me from a cracked rib or a bruised back, but let me tell you: flat out dropping six feet to the ground with nothing but boobs to break your fall is like taking a garbage compactor and putting yourself between it.

I could hear fine, but apparently this dipshit though I was high on crack because the first thing he did was yell out the same question, “Are you awake?” His driver must have been giving him an ugly look because the next thing I knew he was on the ground next to me. I wasn’t going to be a wuss about the situation but seeing his driver give me that look of terror….

“Jackson…” I coughed out. _Jesus, I sound terrible._

“Leave him alone.” I croaked, wheezing.

“Now, who are you-! Pushing myself up I looked at him, and judging by his immediate silence, the look on my face must have surprised him.

“What?” Giving him a suspicious glance I checked myself seeing that all my limbs were in place except… _the blindfold! That must be why he looked at me like that!_ I quickly glanced around my surroundings. _Exit, exit, exit! Where is the exit?!_ There was nothing but walls and more walls and giant houses… it went on and on! _Oh, fuck! Where am I?!_

Jackson sauntered over to me and grabbed me by the forearm. He didn’t need to say anything for me to know where he was taking me: in his home. We stood in front of the fancy green door as he fished his keys out from a nearby pot and slid it into the keyhole, making a satisfying ‘click’, and opened the door wide. Shoving me inside he closed the door behind him and locked it. _He really just left his chauffeur out there and…locked the door._ From behind me, I could hear Jackson humming an off-lyric tune and place his arm across my shoulders, “Welcome home!”

“Excuse m- I intercepted his comment, but…

“Nu-uh! I won’t have that nonsense here. Answers in due time. In due time, my dear.” _Eww…. why does he sound ten years older saying it like that?_ Leading me to the main room I glimpsed around the area: the stairs to the left panning and spiraling up to more rooms, and plenty other open doors downstairs leading to other rooms. Curious about what source was lighting up the fortress I looked up and was not disappointed. I couldn’t help the gasp that escaped my lips in pure awe of the giant crystal ( _is that real?!_ ) chandelier dangling from the very tall ceiling.

My voice reflected my mood as I breathlessly asked, “Why am I here?” Turning to look at him, I added, “Besides the photos, you somehow got your hands on.”

A humming laugh escaped his chest as he glanced around his house before turning his body slightly towards me. “Well, I certainly didn’t need to bring you all the way to my house for some stupid photos…”

“What is that supposed-

“Ah-ah. Shhh ... let me explain, dear.” He let go of my shoulders and trailed around his main room like he was dancing at some ball, spinning back to face me again.

“We’re going to have a little fun, you and I… While I do admit the whole daddy issue could have been settled elsewhere under different circumstances… we both know why I’ve brought you here.” He trailed off, looking off into the distance before coming closer and gliding his fingers down my arms. I was quick to move away, showing how awful I was feeling about all of this.

“Mmmahmm… well, we’ll just have to fix that attitude, won’t we?” His sharp pale eyes stared a little longer than they should have at me; there was definitely something in that gaze… but what? My legs felt like jelly and if I didn’t find somewhere to sit soon I’d probably fall. Jackson seemed to notice this because in one fluid motion I was brought over to a couch, away from the front door, and surprisingly he gently pushed me down onto it. My head still pounded in agony and I held my arms close to my breasts in little comfort to myself. All I could think of was how incredibly and horribly vulnerable I was. I felt the tears sting at the back of my eyes and I once again felt defeated in his presence.

As I tried to hold my sobs in Jackson went on about me owing him back for sparing myself the embarrassment and harassment, while he would also be getting something in return for my cooperation. What did he want? My body… for sex. My pathetic answer was as sad as it sounded, “Please… don’t do this. I’ll get you money? Anything. Anything but selling my body out to some stranger alcoholics and drug dealers. I thought… I thought…” I couldn’t get the words out of my mouth and Jackson seemed to bath in this power of control over me.

“You thought what? Silly, silly Catherine! I don’t think you understand. I can’t change the deals that have already been established. Either go through with this or- Suddenly his phone rang, breaking the dred-filled air. He let out a loud half grunt, half sigh, and picked his phone out of his pocket. Pressing the green answer button he held it up to his ear, an angry scold etched into his face.

“WHAT?!” My body involuntarily spasmed in fear at his tone, and he seemed to enjoy the effect he had on me. The conversation on the phone continued smoothly during which a maid came up to me a couple of times with an empty glaze over her eyes, asking if I wanted anything. I politely said no every time. This occurred maybe three or four more times. _Oh my god! I don’t fucking want anything from here!_ However, my stomach said otherwise and Jackson being the all-hearing god look to me skeptical. Annoyed already, he put his hand over the phone and yelled at all of the maids in the room, “For fuck’s sake just get the girl some food before I have to go back there myself!” Seeming to have awakened the fear in their minds, they all scurried away terrified. _How does he treat his workers here?_ Returning back to his phone call he hung up with a loud “I’m BUSY!” and put his phone back in his pocket.

“Now where were we?” He grinned, smoothing his hands down my arm.

I shuddered.

“On second thought… why don’t we cancel that food order and you can have me for dinner instead?”

I snorted. He stopped, glancing at me strangely, “What?” He said.

“Why are you so interested in my dad’s affairs? Bother him, not me!” I growled, changing the topic. The confused look gone, he smirked down at me and now it was my turn to be confused. He reached his hand out for my face, but as I tried moving back he gripped tighter, forcefully connecting our foreheads. _Ouch…!_ He began to leaning down his mouth centimeters from mine. _Oh shit! He’s trying to kiss me! No!_ I freaked out and tried pulling away more aggressively but I couldn’t budge!

“No, wait! Just answer one question, please!”

He stopped right before he went all the way, then pulled away with a sigh, “Fine. What is it?”

I breathed in shakily and hugged myself tightly, “Why me?”

He bursts out laughing, “Is that all? Everyone asks that!” He seemed to find real joy in this.

In a rush of anger, I seethed, “NO! WHY ME? Out of every hooker girl in our school, why did it have to be me?! I don’t care if I’m being selfish! At least I don’t treat other people like trash!” He only continued to laugh at me while my anger ebbed away at every sound until I was left defeated and vulnerable again.

“Honey, you don’t get to choose who goes and who doesn’t. I do.” Moving in closer, he whispers lowly in my ear, “Just relax, dear, and let me do all of the work for you.” I shivered in disgust as he blew into my ear, his breath fanning into my face as he pulled away. My nose wrinkled in disgust on how his breath smelled so good but he was so _awful_.

Forcing himself upon me once again, his lips trailing down my jaw then my neck… a door somewhere in the house slammed closed making Jackson pause in his tracks and look up from the couch. Physically pissed off, he stood up in rage and spat down at me, “What did you do?! Call your fucking boyfriend?! Oh, this is just fucking perfect! Give me your phone! I knew I couldn’t trust you, bitch!” Shifting his arm like he was going to slap me, I reacted by kicking him in his shins before he had the chance to.

While he withered to the ground groaning, I shouted at him, “Who you calling bitch, dickhead?! What fucking boyfriend are you talking about?!” Bewildered by my outburst and hurt from my kick I ran around the couch to make a run for the front door, but a random butler grabbed my upper arm and prevented me from leaving out the door.

“Let go!” I screamed, struggling hard, but it was no use. I was still trapped here. I yelled in frustration and turned around only to see Jackson rustling with someone on the floor.

As the stranger sat up and raised his arm to throw another punch at his face I exclaimed, “Gray?!” He didn’t look my way until he had Jackson in a headlock, then he took note of me with a sly grin.

“Hey, baby~” Below him, Jackson tousled around trying to get Nixon to loosen his grip. A sudden deja vu hit me as I realized Jackson was in the same position he’d put me in moments before, _Haha, suck it!_ I was just about to say something when Nixon raised his hand up, a weapon ( _is that a knife?!_ ) in it, something that I don’t remember seeing before. He tried to keep Jackson still to… _stab him?!?!_

Jackson looked really nervous and Nixon.... well he looked fucking mad!


	12. Sweet Angel O' Mine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nixon finally arrives at Catherian's rescue, but there's one problem: he loses himself... a bit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Sweet Angel" by Jimi Hendrix is a good song.

**Nixon**

_God damn, it really hits you when you come into a gated community like this._ I always walked passed or drove by it, never really looking inside. All the houses here were big, no. Big is an understatement. These houses were huge. Like a mini huge mansion! I can only assume high-class people live here. _Gee, make me feel poor._ I casually walked along the sidewalk provided by the property, leaving my cover from the shade. _Maybe I should have asked for a ride here, instead of walking... Nah, Liam would have asked questions. It’s better this way._ I had my hands in my pockets, my eyes darted across the area, making sure I wasn’t sticking out. Just a casual ole teen going home is all. I chuckled lowly. So many people probably live here they wouldn’t even know if I didn’t belong here. In my cocky behavior, I snapped out of it, shaking my head. I had to keep focus. Looking around again, I only spotted a few people and cars either leaving or entering the area. Nothing too fancy.

Most of the people didn’t even spare me a second glance. I plucked my phone out of my pocket, checking the location again. It seems I’m a lot closer than expected. I looked away from my phone and spotted a very large house in the distance. I quickly glanced at my phone then back at that house. Yep, definitely where she’s at. Here goes nothing.

I crammed my phone back into my pocket. Cracking my knuckles as I headed towards the place. From what I could see, the house had a really long driveway. The only other problem is that the house was fenced off, unlike the other houses. Luckily for me, the front gate was open. But it is right in the open. This house was much bigger than the others. Again, I checked around and made sure the coast was clear before slyly making way to the gate. No one was around to see me slip on through. _That was easy, huh?_ I walked onto the driveway, no longer caring if I stood out or not. It was inevitable. There was no cover, just roads, and grass. I’m taking some big risks for some girl. No, not some girl. My _interest_. And if things don’t work out, there’s still that girl at school.

…….

………

…………

………………..

 _This is one fucking long ass driveway. I’m not sure how long I’ve been walking. Maybe ten minutes? This doesn’t make any sense. No house should have a driveway like this. Ugh..._ Despite the annoyance of my current situation, I held tight and kept going. People who give up easily never thrive. And I am simply one who doesn’t like to give up. Soon five minutes later, I approached the front door of the place. Clearly seeing a camera pointed directly down towards the door. _Great, now they know what I look like._ As I was about to ring the doorbell, and probably knock out whoever opens it, I heard something. “NO! WHY ME?” No, It was someone. Someone I recognized. It was Cherry. I could undoubtedly tell she was in distress by her voice. I roughly attempted to open the door but was stopped by the lock, forcing me to ring the doorbell. A few seconds went by before a maid? answered the door. As soon as she opened it, I took hold of her by the hem of her shirt, twisting her around. I wrapped my left arm around her neck and my right in front of her neck. With our bodies pressed, she quickly took hold of my arms attempting to free herself, just as she did that, I began to apply pressure. Ten seconds flat, her body went limp and I placed her against the wall of the house. “Sorry, lady.”

I refocused my anger showing itself. _Idiot, she could be in here dying and you’re wasting time with a maid! Should have just stabbed her instead of a sleeper hold._ Again, I hear shouting. I swung the door open, slamming it close and walked rapidly to the first opening I saw, ignoring the decor of the place. The first thing I saw was a guy’s back. Then Cherry who was being held by a butler. _I should have known... It’s fucking…. Jackson!_ I tackled him while his back was turned. From there, we wrestled for dominance, he was a little dazed and maybe even slightly hurt as when I hit certain places he would grunt loudly. I threw a punch. “Gray?!” _Oh, is that my sweet angel~_ I didn’t let her distract me, Jackson did manage to get a few licks in, around my upper chest. But little does he know, Nixon is an absolute tank when it comes to fights. My pain tolerance was high, probably from the fights I got in with my dad. Yeah.. we don’t like each other that much. Anyway, after a minute (which was a few seconds at best), I got him into a headlock, using my body as leverage. At that moment, I couldn’t help myself and glanced a Cherry, trying to be funny, “Hey, baby~”

I gave a cunning smile, before being abruptly interrupted by Jackson. _You know what, why not stab him a few times? The world could use one less rich prick. Yeah, totally could use one less if they’re kidnapping girls._ (I’m assuming) I quickly pulled out my black combat knife and attempted to stab him. He, fortunately, grabbed my wrist, which was currently wielding the knife. We both struggled, Me trying to stab him and he held my wrist back. I scowled devilishly and decided to use more force into my muscles. He appeared to look apprehensively, his blue eyes concentrated, breathing rigid, body tense. As the knife gets closer to him, I can sense the panic coming from him. _This is fun. That fear._ I decided to play with him. I subtly angled the knife and applied more force. It brought my hand down straight to the floor, having the knife clang against the ground. I let my grip on him weaken, allowing him to quickly push me off of him. From that I smirked, taking my knife up and dug it into his upper leg, snatching it right out as quickly as it entered. If I’m lucky, maybe I hit his femoral artery (the main artery in your leg) and he’d bleed out.

“Arrgh!” He stumbled back down to the ground, holding his leg. I got up to my feet, looking at the marbled floor for a second, biting my lip as a smile tried to surface. “Hehe.. hehehe... Heh.”

I slightly turned my head towards the two other beings in the room with us. My smile got larger as I spotted my next unfortunate target. “Tch.” I squeezed my bloodied knife and ran straight at them, the butler in fear, pushed Cherry straight into me. Sad to say, I knew he’d try that (like most victims) and pushed her out of the way with just as much force, maybe even a little harder, before she could crash into me. He tried to run but I caught hold of the back of his shirt before he could, and violently pulled him back, crashing his body into mine. Quickly, I raised my knife to his throat and put a nice little cut in his throat. I let him go as he struggled to breathe. I turned around (watching Jackson), a smile still etched into my face, looking down to the ground, where Cherry had fallen. I offered a hand, bowing, trying to be funny again (and maybe a bit flirty), “Gray, at your service, love~”


	13. Silent Compromise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jackson is compromised... well, in a handicapped way, and Catherian witnesses her first murder scene.

**Cherry**

As Nixon wielded the knife in his hands, Jackson, who was looking incredibly tense right now, kept his eyes trained on the object watching it like a snake ready to strike. I shifted my eyes to Nixon seeing a crazed glare shining in his eyes as he started to swing the sharp point down. Jackson’s response was quick: he grabbed Nixon’s wrist and pushed it away, gripping it tightly as he tried to keep the offending weapon away. Meanwhile, the Butler holding me by the arm seemed to be in just as much shock as I was, but his grip didn’t grow any looser or tighter. I was still stuck here. The only thing keeping me from reaching my leg back and kicking this guy was because of flirty Nixon. _What if I leave and Jackson gets the upper hand and uses him instead? Even though it looks like Gray can hold his own… and I doubt he’ll give up on selling me away to god-knows-where and who._

An object hitting the floor brought me out of my thoughts as I noticed that Jackson had gotten Nixon to drop the knife. But... Nixon did not look worried at all and it looked like he was giving Jackson control on purpose. Jackson’s reaction was to push Nixon off and turn his head in my direction. I sucked in a breath as he gritted his teeth at me and started to stand up when he screamed out, “Arrgh!”- and bent slightly at the knees.

Horrified but confused why he’d screamed seeing as the couch slightly blocked my view I leaned to the left pulling on the Butler’s grip and saw Nixon pulling the knife out of Jackson’s leg. My mouth hung open only a few words escaping me, “Oh my god…” He flicked his wrist holding the knife to the side splattering a little blood on the green couch. Jackson stumbled back down to the ground, holding his leg with a look of agony on his bruising face.

Nixon stood up with his head turned to stare intently at the tiled floor before a small laugh escaped him. It was so quiet I thought I must have imagined it until the Butler behind me started to tremble and breathe heavily, whispering “Oh god… oh god… I should have stayed downstairs... Why did I take this job…?” I tried again to free myself, but he was so shocked I think he was unable to even open his arms to let me out. Yeah... now he was hugging me from behind because he saw Jackson get stabbed. I felt his breathing freeze when Nixon looked to us, an annoyed look on his face but a smile there nonetheless, and when I thought it couldn’t get any less terrifying the Butler pushed me to Nixon. _Oh great now I’m free. Now to_ \- “Oof!” When I thought I was going to run into Nixon, he proved me wrong by pushing me out of the way causing myself to drop to my knees.

 _Well, that was rude… wait, shut up. He just stabbed Jackson, do you want to be next? wait, wasn’t he super weird today when he asked me out? Is he bipolar?_ I looked up in time to see Nixon catch the Butler by the back of his shirt and roughly tug him into himself, causing the Butler to collide into him. There was a quiet grunt that emitted from one of them which I couldn’t distinguish as I was too busy looking back at Jackson who was still wallowing in pain and _Is he crying?! Oh shit, this is pretty bad! What if he’s hurt…?_ I continue to watch him and then thought, _Well, no shit he’s hurt, but why should I care? He was going to sell me…_

Holding myself again in order to stop my trembling arms, I closed my eyes to block out Jackson’s cries, his crystal eyes piercing mine with desperation. “Catherine…” I shook my head at his voice. “Catherine, please... ugahh! Catherine”, he groaned in pain, continuing to call my name while I continued to shake my head ‘no’.

“Catherine!” Something slid across the floor, thumping against my foot. On instinct, I peeled my eyes open and stared down at the object realizing it was a small kitchen knife. I looked up at Jack as if to ask “where the fuck did you get this?”. He turned his head to look behind himself and I noticed a plate of food on the coffee table. I scowled, _The maid brings food instead of calling the cops?! Oh, that’s right… THIS COMMUNITY OVERLOOKS EVERYTHING!_

Grabbing the knife I turned at the sound of metal on skin, gasping in fright while Nixon sliced the Butler’s throat open and shoved him to the hard floor. He choked on his own blood with it spilling out of his mouth onto the tile, hiccuping for breath, taking his last whisper of life, and succumbed to his death. Nixon turned around looking past me to Jackson, a smile still on his face, then he looked down at me. Biting his lip with a grin he offered a hand, bowing, and searched my eyes with a sweet glint in his stormy ones, “Gray, at your service, love~”

_Fuck he’s hot. SHUT UP HE JUST KILLED THE BUTLER!!_

Moving the knife to my left hand I grabbed his hand and he lifted me up, pulling me into his chest. _Uhh.. what is happening?_ He held onto me for a moment longer, his shoulders untensing against my face because of how short I am compared to him. Jackson’s sudden moans of pain sounded louder now that it was quiet in the large house and seeming to notice this, he stepped away and looked down at me ( _fucking height differences_ ) and grinned wider, except this time it wasn’t eerie. “Let’s finish this.” _Finish this?_ I contemplated his statement when it clicked, “Wait!” Nixon was a quarter of a way to Jackson when I called out to him. He fixed his gaze on me, awaiting my next response.

“You don’t mean… ‘killing’ him, do you?”

He took note of the knife in my hand and trembling legs and smiled, “You already look ahead of the game.” Gaping at him I tried to say something but nothing would leave my mouth. I definitely wasn’t going to use it against Nixon, so what did Jackson expect me to use it for? As Nixon continued to watch me struggle for an answer behind him I caught sight of Jackson quickly standing up and running towards him, but before he could have the element of surprise, Nixon spun around and knocked him to the ground with a hard shove to the shoulder using only one hand. Jack struggled to sit up while above him Nixon twirled his knife in hand. In amusement of his struggles, he looked back at me and shrugged his shoulders. I could only watch, uncertain of what he was trying to accomplish but because his attention was back me Jackson had finally gained his balance and pulled out a pistol gun.

My breathing hitched and I thought, _Did he have that the whole time?!?!_ But without a second thought, I launched the kitchen knife at him before he could fire a shot, surprising myself (and Jackson) as it lodged into his arm. _How is that knife so sharp?!_ Nixon, dumbfounded, spun around to find the knife still in Jackson’s arm and the pistol on the floor. Jackson yelled out in pain as he ripped the knife out and peered back at me with a dark grin, the knife dripping with little blood in his hand. Pushing Jackson onto his stomach he placed his foot down, grabbed for his phone, and kicked him onto his back for extra measures once finished. Jackson moaned in pain, clutching his arm and grunting out incoherent things up at Nixon.

Calmly walking over to me, he swiped the knife in the air to get the extra blood off and slid it into one of his pockets, the phone still in his hand; then he gently gripped my hand and pulled me to his side while I tried to find my breath again. _Oh god… breathe… breathe.._ Nixon led us out of the house and onto the driveway. As we walked he grunted with effort trying to bend Jackson’s phone in half and when that did not work he stopped and threw the phone to the ground, stomped on it, cracking the screen; but that must not have been enough because the next thing I knew he was on the ground stabbing it over and over. Until he once again tried bending it in half and succeeded. Putting the knife away once more he reached for my hand, his locks of hair glistening with sweat noticeably because of what little street lights were turning on. I hesitated, still in shock as all I could think was: _I just stabbed him… I… I just… breathe girl… breathe..._ A gentle touch and a strong but tender hold on one of my clamming hands knocked me from my mini panic and I peeked up to him to see a sparkle of fun and trust in his eyes.

“Don’t worry.” He said, walking me down the driveway and there, conveniently enough for Nixon, was a dumpster across the street. He angrily tossed the phone away in there. With a free hand now he grabbed my other hand and rubbed my knuckles softly, adding, “I’ll get us out of here.”

Getting out of the community took a bit of maneuvering because I was still in shock and couldn’t keep as fast of a pace as Nixon had. On the other hand, we couldn’t run because it would make us look suspicious and, let's face it, we already looked out of place. He kept me close to his side occasionally peeking down at me to make sure I was still _really_ here. We came upon a tall wall and the sound of speeding cars on the other side of it reached my ears. _Don’t tell me…_ “We need to get over this wall. I’ll boost you up.” I was at a loss of words. _Does he really expect me to get over this wall?_ I opened my mouth to begin protesting but he didn’t give me the option to and got down on one knee cupping his hands to help me up. He looked to me expectantly and I finally gave in when he said, “I promise I’ll help you down. I won’t leave you here, unless…” I didn’t catch the rest. All I cared about was that he said he wouldn’t drop me.

Stepping onto his hand I walked my hands up the wall, bracing myself as he lifted me up until my hands curled at the edge and I reached my arms over to hold myself up without putting so much weight on him. He must work out because his arms weren’t shaking at all. _Talk about getting me all hot and bothered. Oh god… why are you still attracted to this guy??_ “I’m going to push you up so get ready to sit up there until I get and over the wall!” I scrabbled at the end of the wall and lifted my legs over the edge as he pushed me up. I waited patiently as he prepared himself to run up the wall, trying to keep myself low from peering eyes.

Breathing in the fresh night air, I cleared my mind and looked to my right where Nixon was lifting himself up. I reached out to grab his hand and he took it without a second glance, using all my strength to get him on the wall. Taking a deep breath, he focused his eyes on me and bit his lip, “You’re the best. Now, let’s get out of here.” Jumping down to the ground he examined my position and moved where he calculated I would fall. _This is not reassuring at all._ The height of the wall suddenly seemed higher and I found myself sucking my breath in out of doubt. _There is no way he is going to catch me from here and not collapse under my weight!_

“Come on! I got you!” He encouraged as he held his arms up in emphasis, smiling up at me in reassurance. _Okay…! I can do this. It’s just a quick drop..._ “Don’t make me come up there and push you!”

Startled, I shouted back, “Okay! I’m coming down now!” Hesitating, I added, “Don’t drop me!” With a nod of confirmation from him, I slowly edged to the lip of the wall and pushed myself off. A short whine left my lips and then I was in his arms. He grunted from the force but didn’t drop me as he’d promised. Fixing his hold to cradle me he began walking, only setting me down after he was sure I wasn’t trembling anymore and could walk properly. The pace continued to quicken but my lack of exercise easily caught up with me, causing me to lose my breath rapidly.

Nixon looked to me with a frown, “You got to keep up. I can’t and won’t carry you the whole time.” There was no sympathy in his tone.

I responded back with a, “I know”, and he smiled squeezing my hand for encouragement. I’m not even sure where we are going, but he looks pretty hellbent on getting there quickly.


	14. And a Quid Pro Quo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's clear leaving Jackson alive will prove to be a mistake... and two bodies left in the wake. That can't be helped with Catherian now in the loop, so all Nixon can do is make the best of that, even if that includes keeping her in check.

**Nixon**

I let out a breath of relief. I was glad to be out of there. Though a tad bit annoyed. It was clear that Cherry couldn’t keep up with my speed. It showed in her sluggish steps and mini sprint bursts, followed by a slight pant. Yeah, I should have known, way beforehand, but being able to keep up isn’t the problem. Getting away from the scene of the crime is all that matters. There were some cars coming down the street as normal, nothing out of the ordinary. The orange street lights brighten the night as a slow cool breeze flowed. It helped cool me down and gave me time to think. _Hm... Maybe I am moving a little too fast. We won’t make it back quick enough if I push her too hard. And carrying her would seem a little too off for a man walking somewhere at night. For all they know, I’d be some guy kidnapping a girl._

My brows furrowed, the thought of Jackson bothered me. There were security cameras there. Right at the door... And that maid lady. She clearly saw me. _Ah, fuck. I wonder how long till the police hear about this. Now mentioning the authorities… Where were they?_ I’d imagine if I lived in a rich area they’d be swarming it. But, no. Not even one cop in sight. No sirens going off. Just pure silence, except for the sound of the night and passing cars. It was _odd_. _Very odd_. I looked over to my right, glancing at Cherry, tugging on her wrist a little more to keep her close to me. _Maybe I should slow down... a little bit. She did save my life. But that’ll mean we’re even._ I should have been paying more attention to him. I suppose I was distracted by this one next to me but still. It’s uncommon for me to divert my attention in those kinds of situations.

I used my left hand to flip my hair back to the right as the strands were disheveled and straying to the left. More than likely, from the sweat of my body from earlier. A car would be nice to get back home to my apartment. It would be cool and reassuring to quickly move from one area to another. My house is a good half hour away from here. Not only that, but it’s also fucking _Wednesday_! There’s school tomorrow and then you have this prick! _Dammit, we’ll have to lay low for a few days. And when we go back, I have to explain myself to the counselor. Cherry would be on her own._ Maybe I can get Liam to cover for me. You know what? _Fuck it._ I’d rather miss school than go to jail. I should have killed him- No... if I did that, who’s to stop his servants from calling the authorities. I can’t kill all of them. I thought about how I had Jackson on the ground... Ah, I should have taken his wallet! Fuck, he probably had some cash off him. Slowing down, I let go of Cherry’s wrist and used both of my hands to facepalm myself. _Ah, at least he doesn’t know where I live… yet. And on the bright side, Cherry’s with me instead. That’s always good. Maybe we can talk about going out sometime after all this blows over._ I dropped my arms back to my side, my left resting in my pocket, and my right finding its way back to Cherry’s small, soft hand. It was quiet and honestly beginning to get boring just walking. So I decided to break it. I looked over to Cherry, watching her expression. The troubled look on her face seemed to be lost in thought. Until she suddenly blinked, slightly startling me and looked at me, uncomfortably. _I wonder what’s going on in her head._ I smiled softly, “We’re good now? You saved my life and I saved yours, yeah? Without your help, I’d be dead on the ground.”

Cherry’s look turned from discomfort to distrust. Maybe she’s scared of me? “I won’t hurt you. I promise. You can trust me.” I added, hoping to reassure her, even a little. Often, averting her gaze, she responded back, “No, it’s... That’s not it.” I curiously watched her, waiting for her to continue. But she never responded.

“Tch..” There goes my attempt. Oh well…. I tried. It was once again silence between us. The slow pace helped Cherry to walk by herself and not me practically dragging her. If I was walking down the street as someone else, I’d say we were a couple, heh. As the walk continued, I spotted a corner store and headed towards it. Cherry followed behind me quietly. I let go of her hand and removed my leather gloves, stuffing them into my pocket. When I got to the door I headed inside, I quickly realized that Cherry didn’t follow me in. So I went back and swung the door, locating her, “Come on silly! I’m not leaving you out here!” I laughed, making sure she followed me inside. I headed to the back, having my hands placed on both of her shoulders, pushing her towards my destination, almost playfully, where the refrigerators were to grab two cold bottles of water. Then we went to the front where I paid for them and left out of the store with Cherry. I handed her a water bottle and carried on our way to my apartment.

**20 minutes later**

Finally… we made it after so long. I checked my phone for the time, _9:44 P.M_. It’s not that late. I lead us up to my grey apartment door. The building was bicolored, the bottom being a grayish tan and the top half being a caramel brown. It had white accents along the edges and a nice grey roof. I lived in a two-bedroom, one-bathroom building. It has a decent living room and a big kitchen with a small pantry. I pulled out my keys and unlocked the door, motioning for Cherry to enter first, after the lights had been turned on, revealing a spacious living room with light beige walls and a wooden floor. Once inside, I closed and locked the door. Breathing a sigh of relief, looking towards the ceiling, I leaned against the wall. _It’s been a long time since I brought a girl back home, heh..._ I shook my head, ridding myself of ’ _those_ ’ thoughts and started to speak, “So… I’m going to say this now…” I paused, “We are going to have to lay low for a few days till maybe next week Monday. But, I don’t know what he’d do yet.” I crossed my arms, “In the meantime, I’ll go and pack some stuff just in case something happens. Don’t be afraid to ask me anything..! I’m not going to do anything weird and all.”

“Not like last time... At least.” I flashed a smile, pulling my hair out my ponytail, letting it hang at my shoulders. I placed the rubber band into my pocket for safekeeping and ran my hand through my hair, putting it back into place. “But I am curious… If you don’t mind... I’d like to know why he chose you? What did he want?” I wouldn’t be annoyed if she didn’t tell me. _I mean I did stab and kill a guy. It was probably her first time witnessing something like that and to rub salt in the room.. Go to the person’s house who did it._ Must be a death sentence, yeah? _She could just run away…_ I frowned at the thought. _but then she won’t have any protection from Jackson. And I might not be able to help again if that happens. Which means… she’s stuck with me, hehe. This is absolutely perfect (If Jackson doesn’t do anything life-ruining)._


	15. An Easy Meal for Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Catherian gets a glimpse of Nixon's life, alone in his apartment, and the plain-sightedness of what his past consists of. Who is Nixon Gray, really?

**Cherry**

We stopped at a gas station half an hour later. I assumed position outside, thinking he’d wanted to be alone, but that wasn’t the case. _He called me silly…_ Before he’d tried to make small talk with me but that didn’t work so well. There was something about his _aura_ that seemed _off_. The way he worded things was _off_. After running into the same two guys more than once, barely days after Axl’s death, has really started weighing on me. Who was I _really_ dealing with? First, I was about to be sold off into sex trafficking and then, I witness this guy, Nixon, kill another man.

He’d said, “I won’t hurt you. I promise. You can trust me.” _Trust_ him? With what consequences? How could I trust him? Where would I be putting this trust? _On my life_?

I’d responded back, “No, it’s... That’s not it.” I left it at that. I don’t know this guy. Sure, he’d been wanting to get to know me and me to him; but, after today- no, after these last few days, I needed somewhere to clear my head.

“Tch..” It became silent again, which I wouldn’t have minded if the feeling of annoyance wasn’t rolling off of him in waves.

A few more minutes passed and we came upon an apartment complex. He led me up to this solid grey apartment door. It was his. The complex was all boring colors with its own fling. I hadn’t realized he was still holding my hand until he’d pulled out his keys and unlocked the door, motioning me, quite nicely, to enter first, after the lights had been turned on. I could feel my cheeks burning. Inside revealed a good-sized living room with light brown walls and fine wooden floors. Once inside, he closed and locked the door: it made me a little nervous.

I heard a quiet release of breath behind me as I took in my new surroundings: the couch, the TV, the kitchen, the hallway leading to a room, probably two. He started to speak, “So… I’m going to say this now…” Turning around I found him to be leaning against the wall, adjacent the front door, with a grim look.

There was a long pause from him as he searched my gaze, “We are going to have to lay low for a few days till maybe next week, Monday. But, I don’t know what he’ll do until then.”

’ _Him_ ’ meaning Jackson.

He crossed his arms, his stormy eyes brewing with deep purpose, “In the meantime, I’ll go and pack some stuff just in case something happens. Don’t be afraid to ask me anything..! I’m not going to do anything weird and all.” _Ahh… build my confidence up._

“Not like last time... at least.” He flashed a smile, pulling out a hair tie? And his hair fell down to his shoulder, _Oh wow, that is super hot… I’m never going to live up to this._

“But I am curious… If you don’t mind... I’d like to know why he chose you? What did he want?”

As we awkwardly stared at each other I decided to answer, anger and distress shining in my eyes, “He wanted my body for sex. Simple as that: to use me and sell me off. All because of some blackmail he has against me. The nerve of that guy! Why I out to…! Oh, never mind!” I turned away fisting my hands and breathing deeply as I forced myself to contain the stinging tears of disgust in my eyes. He didn’t say anything. Holding myself, I turned back around only to see he’d walked into the kitchen, the sound of pots and pans clinging.

Looking over the bar, he shot me a smile and said, “Do you like macaroni?” I slowly nodded my head and he loudly exclaimed, “Alright! I’ll make us some food first before I start packing.” I couldn’t help but wonder: _Is this supposed to comfort me?_ If so….. it’s.. working.

While he set up the stove, I looked around the room curiously, my eyes passing over an image of a young teen girl; but no other pictures or frames decorated the living area. I didn’t have the motive to question who she was, nor was it my business. The living room was decent and there was the big kitchen Nixon was currently making a ruckus in. Walking around the corner to the kitchen, I decided to ask him, “Can I check out the rest of the place? Unless it bothers you to have someone snooping around…” I nervously shifted with a pink tint on my cheeks and timidly awaited his answer.

“I don’t mind. There’s a guest room across from mine- you can sleep there. I’ll let you know when dinner’s ready.” Still smiling he turned back to the food. I was hit with a sudden feeling of deja vu again: why was I getting comfortable? This isn’t my home nor do I know this guy. I shouldn’t be warming up so quickly. It can’t happen again. Sighing I turned to the hallway and began my search. I need to know what I’m dealing with.

The first room to the left I passed was the bathroom: it was a nice size with a shower/bathtub that had a soothing-colored shower curtain, there were a few things scattered on the counter and towels hung up on hooks. Turning the light off I moved further down the hall, the wooden floors creaking underneath my shoes. Flicking the light on to the next room on the right side, I immediately deemed it to be Nixon’s: it was a typical room with a laptop and games, there were a few band posters above the bed and over the desk- everywhere- and a baseball bat at the end of the room. The walls were plain with very little color, a chest in the corner of the room, a queen-sized bed, and a desk by the window. The closet was closed. As I continued to pace around the room I came upon the chest. I reached to open the chest and surprised myself to find it wasn’t locked. I contemplated looking in it, what if I found something I didn’t want to find? What if I’m invading his privacy? _Who cares about his privacy! He killed that butler with ease!_ At the same time, wasn’t that being a little _discriminating_? _No! You can’t trust him!_ Everywhere it screamed danger, but I didn’t have the feeling I’d be dying tonight. I was safe for the moment.

My curious nature overpowering my common sense I pulled it open, studying the insides. There were a bunch of weapons, mostly knives. One caught my attention right away: it was a dagger with a grapevine across the leather handle and it had one word under it in a different language. _Of course, it’s in a foreign language._ I looked at the blade closer and saw some cracked edges on it. _Must have been used before…_ The thought of Nixon using the dagger against someone disturbed me and I felt goosebumps lift on my arms. I decided that was enough and put it back in the chest, closing the hood and backed away from it.

Leaving the room, I turned off his light and walked into the last room on the left across from his, switching the light on. It had the same colored walls as the living room and a bed in the corner of the room. There was a bedside table with a lamp and the closet was open, with no clothes inside. Satisfied with my search, I slipped my phone from out of my back pocket and placed it on the nightstand, turning the lamp knob on and the main one off so it wasn’t so bright. With that done, I made my way down the hall back to the kitchen and peeked around the corner to find Nixon just starting to put the food into bowls. “I was just about to call you.” Startled, I hadn’t realized I was in his line of sight until he looked up at me with a knowing smirk.

“Thanks.” The aroma of the cheese mix reached my nose causing my mouth to water. My stomach started growling in want. We stared at each other for a moment, then…

“Pfft..”

“Hahaha!”

We both burst out laughing, my cheeks burning once more as I nervously pushed my hair back over my shoulders and moved to stand beside him. Calming down, I reached to grab my bowl of macaroni when he slapped my hand away, “No.. I will be taking these to the table. Go sit down. I’ll grab us some drinks. Milk, soda, juice, or... alcohol?”

_Alcohol?! How old is he?!_

“Milk,” I said, slightly pouting and rubbing my hand in mock hurt. He chuckled, biting his lip, his teeth tugging on his lip rings. I stared trance-like, flinching out of it only when he placed his hand on my head, rubbing gently and then moving to the fridge for the drinks. “Go sit down.” Looking back at me bent over in the fridge, he winked. I blushed scarlet and turned tail to the small but tall table near the counter-bar. Nixon soon joined me with the two bowls of food and drinks, after going back to get them, before coming back to sit in front of me. My back faced the kitchen while his faced the living room. Handing me a fork with a smile I dug in, super hungry after all that running and jumping down from… tall walls.

ဝ ဝ ဝ ဝ

“How is it?”

Snapping out of it I beamed up at him and said, “It’s probably the best.”

“Don’t compliment me! It came straight from the box!” He laughed, his grey eyes twinkling in the dim lighting.

“Yeah… but you could have burnt it. Trust me,” I said, adding, “it happens.”

He continued to laugh, having to put his fork down after a minute. I looked at him a little funny and grinned, “It wasn’t that funny!”

Coughing, he responded after calming down once more, “No, no. It wasn’t that. You’re too cute.” I felt my eyes widen and my heart skip a beat. _Stupid heart! Ignore the flattering compliments! He’s going to use you!_ Wiping the red blush from my cheeks I glowered at the half-empty bowl of macaroni.

Deciding to play along, I said, “Thanks, you’re… not what I expected.” A hint of a smile on my lips.

“Oh? What did you expect?”

I hummed, not having a proper response. He smiled, “Well, you’re not at all what I expected… mostly.”

I stared at him questioningly, “Why’s that?”

“For starters, I killed a guy and you have yet to call the police.”

“I have my reasons.” I quickly answered, shutting myself up after noticing how defensive I must have sounded.

The awkward silence greeted us once more until he softly spoke to me, “Hey, did I say something wrong?” I moved my fork around in the bowl for a little longer before looking up into his questioning gaze. His eyes no longer had that fun look. They looked empty, void of emotion. It didn’t look like he really cared what my answer would be. Snorting, I scoffed and looked away huffing to myself. _Now I’m the bad guy._ I can’t believe I ruined the mood, and we were having fun too. He must hate me now. Wait, that wouldn’t make sense because if I recall he did say he likes me… _Oh shit! He asked me out yesterday! You’re a horrible person!_

Changing the topic I nervously asked, “About you asking me out..” I began to ask how we wanted to come about it but…

“Forget it.”

 _Forget it?_ I could feel my heartache at the thought of forgetting my attraction towards him; even though he’s possible a large-scale killer… “Wait one second!” I exclaimed, rising in the chair and my nostrils flaring even though I was petrified. “You don’t get to tell me what to do! You asked me out! You started this! You don’t get to back out now!”

Taking a deep breath, I confessed, “I’m… interested too.” I stopped playing with the fork and food and looked down at my hands.

“I mean it. Forget it. There is too much going on now. We can figure this out later.”

 _What if there isn’t a later?_ I can’t believe I want this. I should have changed schools when the bullying started when John left. My reasoning voice said otherwise: _Moving wouldn’t have fixed anything. Moving now won’t fix your problems either._ Before I could say anything else to him he got up from his chair, dropped his dishes in the sink, and left to (most likely) start packing. Scowling, I left the fork, bowl, and empty glass in the sink as well, and stiffly made my way to the guest room. _I need to clear my head._ I looked over to my phone, _Maybe I should call Mom…_

My hands decided for me, for the next thing I knew my Mom was saying “hello” on the other end of the line. We talked close to eleven o’clock when she said, “I need to make some calls with my co-workers. I’ll talk with you later, Sweetheart.” We said our “goodbyes” and it was once again quiet. I felt better, knowing I had my mother to help me get through these dark times. Hell no, I didn’t tell her about Nixon; but, tonight’ dinner triggered something from my past- I started to relive every phrase spewed from John’s mouth: his lies, his promises... that is what she helped me to overcome, for now. I was still at a fork in the road. Nixon was right: it’s too early to delve into this with Jackson still sneaking around.


	16. Slip Away in the Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A short, relaxing night and corrupted/staged police.

**Nixon**

I was currently in my room, packing things we may need on our way to my cabin. And yes, I have a cabin in the woods. It’s at least an hour on foot, and maybe half an hour or less in a vehicle. Most people would think I’m crazy having to walk there. But it’s good for nature walks and exercise. Besides, not many vehicles could keep on the trail without coming to some obstacle in the way. It’s the safest place I could think of and Jackson would probably lose our trail if we get there tonight. Speaking of tonight, I stopped what I was doing to check the time. _10:44 P.M_. _Okay, okay, I’m almost done._ I checked my bag- a large black travel backpack. This thing could hold a bunch of stuff and it can even attach things like sleeping bags. I had stuffed it with extra clothes, some snacks, and water (since I haven’t been there in a month or two and the food probably went bad if it isn’t frozen or nonperishable), another knife (for Catherine), and my multi-tool. The bag was relatively heavy, I doubt Cherry would be able to hold it, so she lifted it herself.

“Great. Everything’s ready to go.” I said to myself. I grabbed and placed the travel bag on the floor next to my bed. I then proceeded to flop on my bed to rest. I haven’t had a break ever since we got here, besides cooking and eating. Speaking of that… I can’t help but smile. She really is something. The way she warmed up to me and even said it herself. She’s interested. If only Jackson wasn’t around, I’d take her out… somewhere and see how this goes. I never really had a girlfriend before. Always hit or misses. It usually hits, if you get what I mean, hehe. But, as I mentioned before, I’m looking for a partner. _And she is just so cute! I hope I didn’t do anything weird, I just tried to brighten the mood is all and she.. Just got pretty upset after I said, I was surprised she didn’t call the police or run away. I totally messed up there. Ugh, stupid Nixon. You have to make her like you more!_

A _nd right after that, she said she was interested._ I was excited but didn’t show it. Not at that moment, at least. _I.. we can’t focus on that with Jackson around._ For all I know, he wants me dead and Cherry for ’ _business_ ’ opportunities. I can’t let that happen! We already have too many corrupt pricks going around. Having one less would do the world wonders. Good thing, I smashed his phone. I may have destroyed some of his contacts. But still, unfortunately... I put it on hold for another time. But, that doesn’t mean this sly dog won’t keep things from getting interesting. I got up from bed, feeling hot from my clothes. A sweater and some jeans. I decided to change out of it and put on a black wife beater and red gym shorts, stopping at my knees. Much better. I’ll shower in the cabin. _We’ll leave at.. Midnight_. I thought. I pulled out my hair tie and tied my hair back up, feeling its smooth locks, glide across my fingers.

I left my right hand to rest on the back of my neck, before letting it drop down to my side. I felt that my pockets were empty and quickly found and put my combat knife back into its rightful place in my pocket. I did the same with my phone after making sure it was charged. After that, I left the room to go to the hall. I quickly scoped out the living room and kitchen finding Cherry wasn’t in either. She must be in the guest room, I thought. I wondered if I should check on her as I stood in front of the door, my hand hovering over the knob. _Maybe I shouldn’t. She probably needs time to think and process things._ I breathe in deeply. We still have time to rest. I went back to my room, leaving the door cracked. I laid back on my bed, looking at the ceiling. A few minutes passed when I remembered there were some dishes to be washed. So I got up and went back out. The wooden floor was chilled and cold on my bare feet. I contemplated throwing some socks on later when I got Cherry. My mind quickly refocused as I entered the kitchen and started the process of washing. It only took a few minutes, seeing as it was only two bowls, two forks, a kitchen spoon, and one red pot. I then put them back in their respectful places, before going into the living room and sitting on the couch. I turned the TV on and surfed random channels. _I wonder what Catherine’s doing? I wouldn’t be surprised if she were to disappear on me. I mean, in her eyes... She’s in a house with some crazy guy or a serial killer. But, I’m no serial killer. Just a cereal killer. Hahaha~_ I couldn’t help but laugh at my own bad joke. _Kidding, I’m just a casual killer. I’d mainly kill someone in an alley more than just stabbing random people. But, don’t forget..! I’m a lowkey thief as well._ I turned the TV off. I suppose I assumed I wanted to watch something but really didn’t. Maybe just to fill the silence with some noise. I wondered what to do again. Eventually, I went back into my room, and put on my headphones and began listening to music. Hated You From Hello by Downplay was the first. I turned up the volume to get the full experience, you can’t get by having them on a regular volume.

ဝ ဝ ဝ ဝ

I soon got hyped up from another song, My Apocalypse by Escape the Fate, I grabbed my electric guitar and started playing along as best I could. I was a casual player, nothing too serious. Hm, maybe I am being a bit loud, it’s not like this is going to be low but I don’t want to bother Cherry for now. _If she needs anything, I’m sure she’ll come to me. And if not, I’ll come to her ’round midnight._ After a while of goofing around, I checked the time. It read, _11:23 P.M_. Not as much time as I thought went by. I dropped my guitar onto my bed and cracked my knuckles. They felt a little stiff after hitting those cords for so long. I was satisfied when I heard the ’ _pop_ ’ resounding from each finger. Then I stretched, raising my arms high in the air and tensing my back, letting out a pleasing moan. Following after, I went to the kitchen again, grabbing a glass cup and pouring some fresh orange juice in. At first, I only sipped on it, but then practically gulped it down in about four sallows. I cleaned the cup out and stood in the kitchen, arms crossed leaning against the counter. Staring blankly.

…

……..

………..

………….

A few minutes passed before, I heard the sound of footsteps. My mind wandered who it could be at this time. It’s almost midnight. Maybe it’s one of the neighbors. I listened in as the footsteps seemed to get closer and stop. I didn’t like this. I turned the kitchen light off, thanking myself that I had blackout curtains up. I slowly walked towards the hall.

_KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK_

…….

……

_KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK_

It was louder this time.

_KNOCK KNOCK_

“This is the police..! Open up or we’ll be forced to arrest you!” Said a voice loudly. _Police my ass. Since when did the police show up this late at night! If it were the police, wouldn’t they just break down the door or at least surround the place._ I went into my room and slipped on some socks and shoes in a quick fashion. I threw on the travel bag and silently opened the door of the guest room. The lights were off. _Was she asleep?_ I whispered, “Psst! Catherine!” I continued to open the door, “We gotta go!”

I opened the door and didn’t see her. _Where the hell did she go?_ Suddenly, something tapped my arm, “What?” Startled I internally jumped, “Fuckin hell..!” I covered my face with my hands, whispering, “You scared the shit out of me. Damn, girl..” I added, “Don’t do that again.!” She giggled, “Sorry. What is it?” Oh yeah! That’s right! “There are some guys outside claiming to be the police….” I tried to get a read on her expression but couldn’t see because of the dark. “I don’t believe ’em so we are leaving now. Get your stuff.” “Wait, what now? He found us?!” I could hear the distress in her voice. “Chill out and get your stuff!” I said, “I’ll be at the back door. Hurry.” We split for only a few seconds, that’s right... She didn’t have anything but her phone. Once she came up to me she asked, “Where are we even going to go!? If they found us here, who’s to say they won’t find us somewhere else?!” I used my hand to shush her. “You talk too much. Don’t worry about it!” I unlocked the back door and pulled Cherry out, locking it behind us. Then I led us towards the ‘uncharted’ forest where I hid my cabin. It’ll only take an hour. First, we’ll jog on the trail, then we’ll walk when we verve off of it. I turned to look down at Catherine, both of us locking eyes, _she has such pretty little eyes_ , I stuck my tongue out, showing my tongue piercing and winked, “If you can’t keep up love… I’ll leave you behind, ’kay~” I teased.


	17. Closer, Yet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Establishing trust, some bribery, and running from the cops.

**Cherry**

For a while, I just sprawled out along the bed and when that got boring I walked around the room, opening the dresser drawers (there are about five of them), looking in the nightstand drawer, and inside the closet to get a closer look than when I’d first checked out the room. I wasn’t searching for anything in _particular_ \- well, maybe I was looking for _something_. But all the drawers were empty save for a few loose screws and extra wood platings. The nightstand had an instruction manual inside it for the bed ( _did he put it all together -by himself- from scratch?_ ) and the closet had the empty hangers- oh, and an empty box that looked a little beaten down… _Hmm_. A loud electric-sounding vibration coursed through the walls of the room and knocked me back from my box-trance. I startled into the closet door and looked around wildly for a second until I could distinguish where the sound was coming from. _Of course! Who else is in this house_

It was 10 minutes past eleven when I opened my door to peek out into the hallway. Nixon’s room door was cracked open and light from the inside spilled onto the glossy wooden floors creating an illumination as if it were recently polished. The strumming continued as I tiptoed seven feet to his door- I counted. Leaning against the wall on the open side, I turned to my left and peered through the slit to see Nixon… jamming out. I mean as casually hardcore as you can get. It was entertaining to see him ‘let loose’, you could say when there is a stranger (newcomer) in your home. As relaxing ( _the way he played the guitar so smoothly…._ ) as it was watching him sweep his fingers down the strings of the instrument, it was also making me a little tired. I hadn’t realized how exhausted today had been until the thrumming of the music resonated in my ears making them ache. As exaggerated as it sounded, it was true. When the sound of the strings stopped vibrating in symphony I knew I should probably book it but I couldn’t help but stare at him a smidge longer. _Now, who’s being a bit creepy?_ There was a light smile painted on his face as he dropped his guitar down and popped his knuckles, making the satisfying (disturbingly loud) cracking noise.

I went to turn away, hesitating when I heard a pleasant groan of satisfaction leave the room, and walked into my temporary room. I checked my phone one last time for any messages from my mom and turned the lamp off seeing none there. I laid on top of the covers, sighing as I did so, and began to drift off…. There was a loud knocking at the front door that scared the shit out of me, almost startling me onto the floor. I stood up ready to switch the lamp back on because it was pitch black, but Nixon beat me by suddenly swinging the door open, a bag hanging off his shoulders. I slid off the bed in a panic-stricken way trying to remain calm until I knew what was going and why he had a big ass bag.

He called out in a hushed tone, “Psst! Catherine!” He continued to open the door wider and walked in the room like it would help him see better in the dark, “We gotta go!”

I figured he could see me since he was looking in my general direction, so when I made it up to him it became pretty obvious he couldn’t see me. Deciding to scare him a little I tapped him twice on his forearm, “What?”

Not expecting him to be startled, I jumped back when he breathed out a heavy whisper, “Fuckin hell..!”

He rubbed at his face and scolded, “You scared the shit out of me. Damn, girl..” I giggled when he continued, looking down at me with a glare. “Don’t do that again.!”

Clearing my throat, “Sorry.” _Not really._ “What is it?” My face scrunched up in confusion on why he had barged in here (guessing the time here) close to midnight and carrying a bag.

“There are some guys outside claiming to be the police….”

_What….?_

“I don’t believe ’em so we are leaving now. Get your stuff.” Realization struck me in the face as it finally clicked why he had the bag and why he’d barged in here- besides the fact, there were people banging at the door. Then another thought occurred to me, _Is it, Jackson?!_

Upset, I tried to ignore the anxieting twist to my stomach and exclaimed lowly, asking if my fears were true, “Wait, what? Now? He found us?!”

“Chill out and get your stuff!” He said, leaving no room to argue. As if I could win it. I opened my mouth to ask another question but the hard look he was giving me caused me to spin around and “grab my stuff”, in which consisted of me tucking my phone into my pocket. I turned back to see him still standing there, a confused glance directed toward me. It looked like he was remembering something when I asked, “Where are we even going to go!? If they found us here, who’s to say they won’t find us somewhere else?!- He covered my mouth with his hand and I had the sudden urge to bite it ( _or lick it, but he doesn’t need to know that)._

“You talk too much. Don’t worry about it!” The exciting pitch at the end of his words worried me. Leading us to the back door, he unlocked it, giving a small shove as if the frame was stuck, and pulled us out, turning only to lock it. I felt my heart in my throat and it pulsing through my ears. My eyes were so wide with fear, I thought they’d pop out and I’d be left blind with terror. I glanced up at Nixon when he turned to look down at me, locking our eyes. I gulped when he stuck his tongue out his tongue piercing(?!) showing and winked, “If you can’t keep up love… I’ll leave you behind, ’kay?~” Finished with making me look like a fool he picked up the pace of jogging into the woods. Taking my hand we stayed on the normal trail while he concentrated on our surroundings.

I felt like panicking when I heard dogs barking but Nixon said it was only the neighbor's pets. _How is he so calm?_ Every little sound gave my heart a little panic attack and caused my steps to falter each time. He reassured me each time, but it didn’t help that it was possible Jackson who was at the door and he may or may not be trailing us right now! I couldn’t help but glance back even when Nixon told me to stop in order to pay attention to my steps; but, that was the problem. I wasn’t paying attention because all I could think about was _Jackson_ and how he was going to _sell me_. Nixon started talking to me, slowing the jog to a walk, “We should be okay now. We’re going to go off the trail and take the rest of the way through the uncharted part.”

“Uncharted?!” I softly exclaimed. _Won’t we get lost?!_ I wanted to say my thoughts out loud but I thought better of it when he winked down at me again. I wanted to scowl at him. Instead, I bit my lip and looked away conflicted. “Uncharted. For others anyway. Only I know the way.”

 _Know the way to my death?_ I pushed the thought aside and focused back on where I was putting my feet so I didn’t trip over any roots or my own feet. “Where are you taking us?” I asked more out of curiosity than the fact that I was feeling the leftover energy seeping out of my body as the day started to _really_ catch up with me. How long have we been jogging/walking? _It feels like it’s been hours._ Then again, I was tired and everything felt like I had to put 10x more energy into it. He stopped suddenly causing me to just barely prevent myself from collapsing into him.

“Do you trust me?” He asked, turning his head to the side to look at me from an angle.

“I don’t know? Are you going to kill me?” I said shuddering a little, voicing my earlier thoughts on accident.

He turned around and came up to me, grabbing both my shoulders. I watched as he did so then looked into his eyes, “What?” I squeaked as he continued to stare at me with a serious expression.

“I need you to trust me like you did when I caught you off that wall.” He added, “Can you do that?”

When I didn’t answer he sighed, “You’re interested, yes?”

_Interested? What- oh… in him._

“Yes?” I said, more on the question side. _I am interested, but I’m confused too._

“Then trust me on this. I will get us out of this. But you have to understand that you’re involved in this as much as I am. You harmed him in self-defense on my behalf, but you can still be charged, maybe even be put in jail. I know you don’t want that, and neither do I.” I nodded and he let go of my shoulders, standing back to his full height (I didn’t realize he was bent down) and put his arm across my back. “We’re almost there. You’ll see once we’re there. Trust me.”

“I trust you.” I finally said after standing there and staring at each other in silence. I saw a smile twitched on his face as I admired his ability to comfort me despite (being a murderer) my doubts.

ဝ ဝ ဝ ဝ

We finally reached the mysterious destination according to Nixon while we pushed through some tree foliage. I was telling him one of my famous stories- to me anyway since I have no freakin friends- about the one time I got a job at a dollar store and someone had like a million things and, “She forgot her wallet in the basket that still had a shit ton of stuff in it and this was a sale day so there was a long line. I wanted to be nice so I said that I could keep her account open while I rang the others at another register that was conveniently closed until she found it.”

Nixon chuckled while we continued to push through more branches, “Long-story-short, she got super pissed, called for my manager who fired me for not being ‘considerate to a distressed’ customer.” I laugh at myself, remembering the look of satisfaction on the customer’s face and then the other customers’ look of annoyance. We moved through one last piece of giant tree leaves and it opened to show an old-looking cabin in the light of what little moon there was.

“Wow...” Came my awe expression of the place. He chuckled at my reaction and gently pushed me toward it. I looked at him with a bright smile, “It was worth the wait.” Excitedly, I then added, “Hey, have I told you I’ve always wanted to go camping?!” Noticing that I was bouncing in place while I waited for him to unlock the high tech door, I stopped a little embarrassed.

“No, I didn’t.” He opened the metal door and the inside looked completely different from the rustic look outside, including the door. It was so nice: everything was up to date and a few things looked really expensive, for example, the TV. I sat down on the couch in the far corner of the now labeled living room and lounged across it. I watched him close and lock the door, placing the bag down and walking to another part of the house. He came back a moment later, but my eyes were already feeling heavy as he bent down to my level. “Hey.” He placed a hand on my shoulder. “You hungry?”

“Yes!” I immediately answered, despite my sluggish response and drooping eyes. He seemed to notice this for he softly laughed and rubbed my back in slow circles that caused me to become even more sleepy. _Is he doing that on purpose?!_ “Stop it…!” I playfully swatted at his hand, completely missing it as I was too tired to care, and it was soothing.

“Hmm.. nevermind. You look tired. I’ll make something for us tomorrow.”

I hummed and then quickly asked, “Promise?”

I heard a sigh then felt and heard him lean closer, “Promise. Get some rest.” I hummed again in agreement and curled into myself. “Hey, no. Not on the couch. Come on. Get up.”

I grumbled in disagreement and turned away from him. I heard a “tsk” and then yelled out in surprise when he dug his arms under my body and cradled me in his arms. I looked at him with wide eyes and he stuck his tongue out. “Not on the couch, dummy.” He started to walk and I had to quickly wrap arms around his neck in order to stabilize myself. The short walk allowed me to start feeling tired again and I shut my eyes, leaning my head against his chest. I felt more than saw the bed I was being placed on and the covers lifting over my body.

When I didn’t hear anything I opened my eyes to slits and saw Nixon just on his knees to keep level with me like when I was on the couch. “What?” I was confused as to why he was just staring at me. He smirked and shook his head, turning the lamp I hadn’t noticed was on-off and stroked my cheek. I laughed sleepily and said, “Get out and let me sleep, you tease.” I turned the other way so he couldn’t do anything else, but apparently my comment gave him an idea.

“Tease, eh?” He crawled over me and looked down at me. I could feel my face heating up as he continued to look down at me. He leaned down inches from my lips while my breath came out in short gasps. When I thought he was going to kiss me, he pulled up, laughed, got off of me, and left the room. I couldn’t help but sit up and yell at the open doorway, “YOU ARE SUCH A FUCKING ASSHOLE!” Turning back over and getting comfortable, I closed my eyes suddenly finding that all the excitement caused my heart to race and my mind to reel, keeping me from falling asleep right away.


	18. Solitude in the Woods

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Breakfast & Comfort.

**Nixon**

Smiling to myself, after hearing Cherry call me an asshole from my teasing, I quickly responded back with, “GO TO SLEEP ALREADY!” I added, “OR I’LL COME BACK AND DO IT FOR REAL!”

’ _I wish I could have done it for real. But I know she can’t handle this handsome devil~_ ’ I laughed and shook my head, thinking, ’ _Oh she’s a fun one alright!_ ’ It honestly surprises me how quickly she warmed up to me. It makes me feel so happy, I hope I can seal the deal sometime soon. I can already see how much fun we have together, and not just the ‘sexy’ times, even the cheesy romance stuff. I went to the living room, and sat on the couch, leaning into the cushion, looking at the ceiling. The TV was off and it was dark and cold.

It’s Thursday now... so we can lay low till Monday and see what happens; I don’t think Cherry will mind if we miss school. But if I ever catch Jackson alone, I’ll end him. Thinking about what he wanted Cherry for makes me sick. Even I wouldn’t do that. And he is causing Cherry to freak out way more than she should. I’m just barely able to keep her calm, but it scares me that if I’m not there one day... what would happen to her? Will she fight? Freak out? Or even give up? If that happens, I won’t be able to see her again, see that beautiful smile and lovely eyes. I won’t let anyone have her! No matter what! She’s mine!

I grunted in agreement with my thoughts, just realizing my fist balled up. I uncurled them, feeling the tension and strain leave my stuff fingers. I sighed, what should we do for tomorrow... I tapped my chin repeatedly, seemingly staring into space. “Hm..”

Aha! I know now! Maybe we can try to get to know each other better! It’ll be good for us both and lower stress. And then we can have a little camp out outside if she’s willing... Speaking of camping... One of the most important parts of camping is the food. I should probably check what is in the fridge. I got up from the couch, making my way into the kitchen. I went straight for the fridge and peeked inside. Looking inside, I quickly scowled. ’ _Should have brought some food._ ’ The only other thing in there were eggs. I then checked the freezer and sighed in relief. I had some frozen meat. ’ _Okay, I can cook eggs and sausages in the morning and we can have hamburgers, baked beans, and rice for dinner._ ’ I hope she likes this stuff.

I pulled my phone out and checked the news. It says it should be a sunny but breezy day. ’ _Sweet! It’s going to be a good day for camping._ ’ I smiled to myself once again and went to the hall to the bedrooms. I quickly rushed past the room Cherry was in, hoping she didn’t see me if she was still awake since the door was wide open. I went to the room on the left side of the bathroom. I opened the door, without a thought, and headed to the bed, laying back first onto it.

I had no need to shower or change clothes since I’ve done that earlier or maybe that’s just an excuse to be lazy. I was still wearing a black wife beater and red gym shorts. The most I did was take my hair out of a ponytail and put the tie into my pocket. I rested my hands behind my bed, looking at the ceiling, the cold air of the room made me feel drowsy. I took my phone out and checked the time. 2:18 A.M. and then placed it on the nightstand near the bed before inhaling deeply, whilst smiling, I fell into a slumber. ’ _We’ll have fun for her tomorrow, I promise that._ ’

**Morning**

I awoke with a start, bolting up from the thing shaking me. “What the fuck?!” I heard a yelp and held my heart, frightened by the touch and sound. Quickly, looking to my right. My grey eyes landed on the figure of Catherine. “Jesus Christ, you scared me. Don’t fucking do that!” I closed my eyes and rubbed my head, slightly annoyed. “I’m sorry, didn’t know you were an angry waker. But, I just woke up and had this.” She said, showing me her phone. I took her phone and looked at the message. “Goddammit!” I sighed, and continued, “Look as long as we stay here, he shouldn’t be able to find us. So we’re good.” I flashed a smile, “Didn’t I tell you?” Cherry held onto her loose arm, “Still, should we be a little worried? What if he finds us?!” I frowned, this is why I need to get rid of him. I got up from the bed and put my hand on Cherry’s shoulder. “Listen Catherine. It’s going to be alright. As long as I’m here I won’t let him get to you.”

I pulled her into a hug after bending down, resting my head in the crook of her neck. “I promise, so calm down for me, Love.” She slowly but surely relaxed and returned the hug. After we pulled apart, she smiled at me, though she does still seem a little on edge. I ruffled her hair, “Hey! Stop that..!” I laughed, pulling my fingers through my hair, “Let’s go cook some breakfast, yeah?”

“Yeah, what are we having?” She asked, following close behind. “Well, I hope eggs and sausages are fine. Cause that’s all I got.” I replied, raising my hands and shoulders up. “Unless you find something else.” As we finally entered the kitchen, we began setting everything up, which is odd because I thought I was going to be the one cooking. But it seems she has plans to help me out. ’ _Just like a housewife, cool!_ ’

Our cooking session went well, except how Cherry almost dropped the frying pan from trying to flip the eggs. It was funny but scary at the same time. I wouldn’t want her to get burned. So, we ended up making a new batch of eggs, since the other ones didn’t make it. Our time at the table was amusing. It was mainly me bothering Cherry about messing up. And bragging that I could do better. When we finished, I finally asked, playing with my loose hair, “How’d you like to go camping today? I remembered you said you wanted to try it. I know a really good spot we could hike to and it might make you feel a bit better despite Jack and all.”

“After, we clean up a bit. Of course.” I added.

’ _I swear I’ll kill him. I know he is going to cause a lot of trouble for me. Damn, I wish I could hire someone to take him out… but where’s the fun in that. I’ll make him suffer. As long as we stay here we should be just fine. Mhm, just me and a girl alone in the woods._ ’

…..

……

…….

’ _Sounds really perverted, am I right? Hehe~ Kind of creepy when you realize it’s a cabin in the woods, huh?_ ’


	19. Virile Honey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just filler chapters to allow bonding and character shaping.
> 
> Town names updated June 8, 2020.
> 
> In case you never look up the town names, they're located in Maine near the Winterville Forest.

**Cherry**

We sat at the table laughing about stupid things and I watched as he acts out what I’d looked like when I’d almost dropped the hot pan on myself, and how he had to swoop in and catch me and the pan. “Careful there.” He’d said while his eyes shone in amusement and used the opportunity to hug me from behind after putting the pan down. I pouted and he laughed again when I pretended to throw my fork at him to stop making fun of me. “You should have let me cook the eggs. I can do a mean sunnyside up.”

“Oh?” I asked sarcastic of my interest and was more into climbing over the table and just choking him while he laughed at my face. Continuing to eat my sausages, he sighed and put his head between his hands, staring at me again. The sausage halfway to my mouth, I peered up at him and stopped, asking, “What?”

“I know something else you can swallow like that.” His gaze held a seductive look to it and he had a really lewd smile.

I snorted a laugh and took a bite of the sausage, “Slow your roll, cowboy.” I couldn’t contain my laughter anymore as he made a face at my comment.

“Ain’t no cowboy, but you ride me all you want if you know what I mean.” He winked, while I tried to recover from both his facial expressions and his counter comment. After I finished eating since Nixon finished before me, we sat there in silence until he caught my attention with a whistle. He queried playing with his hair loosely, “How’d you like to go camping today?” I immediately perked up and listened as he continued, “I remember you said you always wanted to. I know a good spot we could hike to. It might make you feel better despite Jack and all.” I was already tumbling out of the chair untangling my legs from the chair's legs and beelining my ass to the kitchen with my plate when he’d started saying, “After, we clean up.”

He chuckled at my eagerness with my hands clasped as he slowly made his way over to the kitchen to put his plate in the sink next to mine and started to wash the dishes. “I’ll dry!” I exclaimed, my voicing ending in a high pitch showing my excitement. I half covered my mouth in embarrassment and Nixon smiled over at me with a chuckle his grey eyes boring into mine. I looked away nervous and dried the first thing handed to me with the hand towel in the comfortable silence.

Once we finished I turned to him to ask if I could take a shower. I wanted to get the sticky feeling of leftover sweat and dirt off of me. _I feel disgusting with no shower for almost two days now_. _How has he not said anything about how bad I smell??_ When he agreed and said he was going to take one after me I realized I didn’t have any clothes with me. “Uh..” I began, turning back to him watching as he put the plates and cups away. He turned to me waiting for me to voice my concern. “I don’t have any clothes to wear.” I cringed a little, smiling timidly.

He smiled kindly and walked over to me, after putting the last dishware away, and took my hand into his, “Well, we’ll just have to fix that, won’t we?” He led me to a room that had to be his and stopped in front of his dresser, pulling it open and handing me a long-sleeve button-up black shirt, maroon boxers, and grey sweats. “That should do it. These don’t fit me well anymore so they shouldn’t be too big, but you might wanna wear this shirt under it anyway since it’s going to be a little windy today.” He handed me a soft-feel T-shirt and then, taking my hand again, led me to the bathroom.

It was a little cool in the house, so the warmth of his hand cuddling mine was more than welcoming. _He must’ve looked at the weather to know that it was going to be chilly out._ Then I thought, _He really thought this out… that’s so cute!_ I glanced at the side watching his focused expression until we made it to the bathroom. “Wait here.” He let go of my hand leaving me a little disappointed when the heat left my hand, but he came back quickly with a couple of towels in his arms. Handing them to me, my fingers brushed against his arms and I looked up to him sensing him shiver from my touch.

“Call out if you need anything. I’ll be in the kitchen preparing everything.” His smile grew a little making him just that cuter and I couldn’t help the little noise that escaped my mouth when he started to leave to do what he needed. Mortified, I sidestepped into the bathroom before he could turn back to look at me and closed the door gently, leaning against it crushed while thinking: _He probably thinks I’m weird now!_ Agitated, I shook myself and set the towels on the toilet and the clothes down on the sink counter, while I started the shower. “Don’t drown or I’ll have to come to save you!” He called through the door out of nowhere, scaring the shit out of me.

“I don’t think I can drown showering!” I answered back, humored by his choice of words to ‘woo’ me. Undressing from my stinky and dirty clothing I felt the water’s temperature and sighed happily because it was the right calidity. I didn’t spend much time in the shower knowing that Nixon still had to take one and stealing all the hot water wouldn’t be fair considering all he has done for me. I washed with his shower products seeing as it was the only thing I could use and then rinsed off. Stepping out of the shower and wrapping a towel around myself, the strong scent of the shampoo and body wash reached my nose, making me instantly calm. No wonder I easily relaxed around him so much: _It’s because of his shower gel! I don’t know if it’s a bad thing I smell like him or not, but damn does this smell good… hopefully, he doesn’t mind._

Drying my body, I wrapped the other towel around my long hair to help soak up the water so it wasn’t dripping all over the counter and floor. Done with drying my body, I first put on the boxers relishing in how comfortable they felt, despite it looking like I was wearing shorts. Then I put my bra and the grey sweats on, accidentally letting a moan slip at how comfortable the sweats were after wearing my tarnished clothing for so long. Hanging the other towel, I rubbed my hair dry with the towel still in it until I felt it was ready to be left to air dry. Hanging that towel up too, I found a hair tie on the counter and decided to borrow it to pull my hair up so it wouldn’t weigh me down since it was still wet. I couldn’t find the hairdryer and it would take too long to dry it anyway. Besides, Nixon still had to shower and I hogged the bathroom long enough.

Reaching for the door handle, I realized too late I didn’t put on a shirt and mentally freaked out until I noticed he wasn’t in the hall and quickly closed the door, breathing a sigh of relief. Not making the same mistake twice, I tugged the soft-feel T-shirt over me and left the long-sleeve for when we would leave. Grabbing my dirty clothes, throwing the long-sleeve over my shoulder and making sure I didn’t leave a mess, I opened the door again and walked to the kitchen, clutching the pile close to me. “Hey..” I started, walking past the living room into the kitchen, seeing he wasn’t in there I turned around to see if I missed him in the living room. He wasn’t there either so I spun only to barely run into him. “Ahh!” I screamed, startled. He ‘pfft’ at my reaction and I pouted up at him, “I’m done in the bathroom.”

“I see that.” He replied back, smirking down at me. _Damn height difference, always looking down at me._ “You passed my room where I was waiting for you at. The door was open, I’m surprised you didn’t see me.”

I let out a sort of cough, laughed, and said, “Yeah, well, I’m not very observant when it comes to figuring out the layout of the cabin.”

He hummed in amusement and led me to the couch. Before sitting down I indicated the pile of dirty clothes in my arms and he grinned taking them out of my hands, “I’ll get that for you.” I sat down while he picked up the remote, turned the TV on, and then handed it to me. “Here. Watch some TV while I take a shower and then we can go on that hike and camp out.” He bit his lip seeming to hesitate before leaning down and kissing my forehead. “Thanks for not drowning. I don’t think I have the energy right now to save you.” He stuck his tongue out and walked off laughing while I playfully glared at his back.

Turning to face the nice-looking TV, I clicked through the channels as I heard the shower turn back on and laid out the long-sleeve shirt onto the coffee table. I was about to click to the next channel when a terrifyingly familiar voice rang out on it. Confused, I raised the volume in order to hear what was being said. The camera was still pointed at the local reporter who was located somewhere uptown Wallagrass, another town over from our town Eagle Lake, so I wasn’t sure if I was just hearing things and started to freak out like earlier.

Then I heard him.

“What’s your name, young man?”

“Me? Jack should be okay for you.”

“Um, Okay, so Jack it is.” I watched him nod his head respectively and then turn to smile at the camera (most likely for the cameraman) and turn back to the reporter whose name was... Gwenity? “Sorry to pull you away from your... daily stroll you said it was?”

“That’s correct.”

She smiled and continued, “Okay, well we would like to ask you some questions for the benefit of the locals seeing as you live close by.” She looked at Jackson expectantly as if waiting for a response but he looked distracted, a hand up to his ear. Gwenity waved a paper in front of his face saying, “hello..?” Until he snapped his attention back to her.

“Oh, sure. May I say something to the camera first? It’s for a friend.”

Gwenity sighed then gave the go-ahead to the camera crew. Curiously, I stared intently at the screen as I awaited what he had to say and thought about how convenient it was that he happened to be on the channel _I was about to skip past._ “I don’t know if you’re watching this but I would HATE to see you harmed IF you try anything to protect yourself from me. Expect there to be big consequences IF I don’t see you tomorrow.” His smile and sweet laugh at the end must have been his play-act to cover up the fact he was threatening me ON TV. Gwenity smiled at him and said how she ‘hoped whoever it was for was watching’.

Without hesitation, she started asking him questions while he answered them with ease with a big fat smile on his face like he had no worries. I started to feel sick to my stomach and quickly got up to run to the trash, but my stomach settled before it could empty itself. Breathing heavily and feeling the head rush from getting up too fast, I laid down on the couch and just held myself, tuning the TV out. Nixon came out about 10 minutes later, hair looking damp and a relaxed smile on his face. There was a commercial playing on the TV about some new cleaning products; however, it was more of background noise to me than listening to it closely like moments before. I was still in the same position, a bit afraid if I moved I would feel sick again. “What’s wrong?” He asked, noticing my immediate change of mood compared to before he went in the shower.

I looked over to him and shrugged my shoulders, “Nothing. Just bored.” I tried a smile and he seemed to accept it for now. He grunted and trailed his fingers through his hair looking around the room until his eyes caught mine again. I felt my breath stop, thinking, _Why does he keep affecting me like this?!_ And he smiled slyly coming over to me. Before I could react he reached around and lifted me into the air throwing me over his shoulder. “WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?!” I exclaimed, twisting in his grip as I tried to loosen his grip on me.

He carried me past the kitchen and stopped at the front door, “Taking you out for some air while I get the rest of the stuff together.” Unlocking the front door, he set me down on the porch and handed me my phone. “You left this in your pocket. Good thing I didn’t throw it in with the rest of the laundry.” He teased. I thanked him and he bowed walking back into the house with a bigger smile. Shaking my head I turned to my right and saw a chair to the side that I hadn’t noticed when we first arrived here, so I sat down in it enjoying the breeze that was blowing in my face. When it started to feel cold I realized I’d forgotten the other shirt inside and was about to open the door, but Nixon beat me to it.

“Forget something?” He teased once more and I giggled flustered, nodding my thanks _again_. He went back inside and came back out seconds later with a bunch of stuff in his arms. _We’re actually going camping!!_ I couldn’t help my excitement, pushing my terror of Jack behind me and smiled happily up at him. Throwing the long-sleeve over the other shirt I offered to help him carry some stuff but all he did was hand me a blanket and said, “That’s for later.” With a wink.

ဝ ဝ ဝ ဝ

He walked beside me while he led me to the trail we’d be taking to hike up. It was a little funny to see him with a big bag and a basket/container in his hand. When he questioned what was so funny I just shook my head and he hummed thoughtfully at me, “Sure thing, honey.”

I laughed, “Honey? Is that supposed to be an insult?”

“No, it’s supposed to show that I admire you.” He retorted but amused more or less about my assumption.

I laughed again, “That’s cute.”

“It’s not cute. It’s masculine.” He snorted out like a bull and turned to glance down at me. I had to keep myself from outright agreeing and looked away to stop myself from drooling because of him.

“Sure.” I mockingly assured him while he stuck his tongue out at me. He announced we made it to the destination and I let out an exclamation of, “FINALLY!” He started setting everything down and taking some stuff out that made me question how strong he really was. I don’t know how he carried all of this crap, but he had a whole ass portable cooking stove-thing for who-knows-what. I set the blanket down and was about to sit down on it when Nixon called me over. “Yeah?” I questioned once I was in front of him.

He grinned and said, “How about we go exploring? I can show all of my favorite places around here.” My eyes lit up again and I nodded, even more, excited that he’d be showing me around. _I can’t believe we’re doing this!_ The more he and I talked and got to know each other the more comfortable and _safe_ I felt around him. Maybe this was good, maybe I needed this after what’s happened these past few days, and besides, he seems to enjoy my company just as much. We both need this… getaway.


	20. Skipping Rocks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Filler.

**Nixon**

On my way to shower, I went back into my room and grabbed a fitted black long-sleeved shirt that hugged my body, grey boxers, and some white gym shorts. It was going to be a bit breezy today and I don’t want to end up too cold. After that, I went into the bathroom, closing the door behind me, taking immediate notice of a strong scent... My shower gel. Well, it really is the only other thing in here. It’s nice to think we’ll smell the same. I’m pleased we can do this and have fun. I can only hope she doesn’t change her mind about me, being a serial killer and all. I mean, who’d want that. Someone who could kill you at any given time. Unless that’s her or something. It’s better than being used and abused, I suppose. Shaking my head, I removed my knife, my hair tie, multi-tool, my phone, and Cherry’s phone from my pocket onto the counter. Speaking of phones, when I found Cherry’s phone in her pocket as I was doing her laundry, I tried to get into it... But as always these days, she had a lock on it. I just wanted to see her contacts and text messages. You know.. See who she’s been talking with or maybe find some secrets. Look, I have to know these things, just so I know what to expect. After that, I undressed and hopped in the shower, setting the temperature to warm, leaning more into hotter water. _Already seems like she used too much hot water, it’s mildly warm. Ah, no matter. I won’t be too long._

And as I said, it didn’t take long at all. I changed into my clothes, throwing the old ones into a basket for later, and then put my tools back into my pocket, my knife on the right and others on the left. I cracked my knuckles, and walked out of the bathroom, down the hall, a contented smile on my face. Upon entering the common area, Cherry was laying down. Now it isn’t unusual for her to be laying down, it was the vibe she was giving off. Something happened while I was in the shower, I thought. I asked, “What’s wrong?” She simply looked over to me and shrugged her arms, “Nothing. Just bored.” She then smiled. I internally sighed, _You won’t trick me, you know?_ I smiled back, softly grunting. Now, I have to brighten her day... Again. You kill me with this, just relax already..! I rubbed my fingers through my wet hair, scanning my eye across the room before landing them back on Cherry. I gave a mischievous smile and quickly lifted her off of the couch onto my shoulder. “WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?!” she yelled, trying to get out of my grip. I didn’t say anything until I reached the front door, “Taking you out for some air while I get the rest of the stuff together.” After going outside, I put her down and handed her phone to her. “You left this in your pocket. Good thing I didn’t throw it in with the rest of the laundry.” I played coy as I went back into the cabin.

I went into the kitchen, going to the table where I had camping gear laid out. I had a tent attached to the underside of the large bag. I wasn’t sure how much of a camping experience she wants so why not share a tent for a night. I had a large sleeping bag, meant for two. _Wink wink._ I’m sure she wouldn’t mind. I put two flashlights, a pen, a notebook, and a mallet in the larger section of the bag. It held a small pot, a map, a compass, batteries, a hat, a can opener, some utensils, a cloth, a cutting board, sunscreen, insect repellent, and two towels. I didn’t have room for the grill rack so I decided to carry it, putting a tablecloth over it, alongside the cooler which carried some stuff like water, sauces, seasonings, paper plates, and plastic bags. I decided to grab a blanket and an extra pair of clothes just in case, geared up, and glanced around the room one more time, making sure I didn’t forget anything. I didn’t forget anything but Cherry, sure enough, forgot to grab that pullover I gave her. I went over and grabbed it from off of the coffee table and went out the front door, almost running into Cherry. It looks like she was going to come back in. “Forget something?” I teased, holding up the pullover as best as I can. She laughed as her cheeks tinted pink. Cherry had offered to carry some stuff but I just gave her the blanket to hold for ‘later’.

I took us near to the trail we’d be hiking to, I know a good clearing around there. We’ll set up there and then be off. We had some jokes and giggles along the way. Once we made it to the somewhat wide clearing, I refused to set up, only taking some things out of the bag, and offered to go exploring now. Maybe it was from my own excitement. “How about we go exploring? I can show all of my favorite places around here.” I said. Her eyes shined with glee and she nodded her head. I grinned, grabbed two water bottles, the map, and compass, and made a hand motion that said ‘follow me’. I smiled and grabbed her hand, “Make sure to stay close to me. We wouldn’t want you to get eaten by a bear or something.” I joked, earning a punch to my arm. “Stop it!” She laughed, “If anything the bear would be scared of you.” I gasped, “Really? Last time I checked, I was already gone before the bear showed up.” She smiled, thinking what to say back, biting her curled finger and crossing her arms. I bit my lip, _that’s hot. Really hot._ “Wait! You’re saying you’re gonna leave me behind!?” She exclaimed. I chuckled at her reaction, “Hey, the survival of the fittest.” I shrugged my shoulders playfully, looking away.

ဝ ဝ ဝ ဝ

I brought us to a familiar wild area, it had looks of vegetation and a nice dark brown twig and stick infested ground. You could say it looks like organic mulch, except more wild looking. I turned to Cherry, “We’re going to explore around here, and if we’re lucky..” I paused, ”Might see an animal or two.” Cherry looked around, holding her own hands, “Okay!” She took us in another direction and went around looking like a kid in a toy store. _She’s so cute_. I shook my head, tied my hair back up and followed behind her, and telling her on things she might not know like, how butterflies can taste their own feet or that squirrels can’t burp or vomit. Yeah, these are some odd facts… But half an hour later, we saw a fox! I being a dumb-dumb scared it off by mistake. But, hey, Cherry was happy and we saw a fox. It can’t get any better than that.

After that, we went to a new location I had in mind, the lake. I figured we could hang here for a bit before going back. “Wow, it’s beautiful,” Cherry said in awe. It was a beautiful lake. It was big, the water glistened, it had the nice scent of nature with it and it would be a really good spot for fishing. I scoffed, _yeah right_ , pulling my fingers through my hair, “You’re beautiful.” She didn’t say anything after that but I can clearly see that blush on her face. I laughed, being a bit confident, “Let me show you how to skip rocks.” She nodded and took the hand I offered. I took us to the water’s edge and picked up to good rocks. I handed her one and demonstrating, my rock skipped about three times before disappearing into the depths below. “It’s easy!”

I thought of all the things we could do, _We could go boating, I could show her the rope swing I made for jumping in the lake, or we could do both and go swimming._ I shivered at the thought of swimming, _I’d love to see some skin but I don’t think she’d do that. Besides, I bet she wouldn’t stop looking if I took my shirt off. Just kidding! Hehe. Though I wish I had brought more stuff so we could play games. Oh, well..._


	21. Bonding with Smiles and Splashes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Filler.

**Cherry**

“Fox!” I whispered-yelled out to Nixon ready to hold my arm to keep him back, but it was too late.

“Where?!” The sly creature looked our way and, startled by his feet stepping on some fragile twigs and his shouting, it leaped behind some shrubs with a bark, taking off further into the wild.

“Nixon!” I reprimanded him with a glare and he gave me an apologetic smile; despite that, his eyes held a pleasant gleam. Even though he scared it off I was still overwhelmed with joy that we’d seen a fox at all. You’d think I’d never seen one before, but seeing one so close and how beautiful it was, it took my breath away. Its fur was a rich orange and red with white spots starting to dot its coat. Now that I think about it, it is getting close to Fall, despite being almost the end of October. The trees were starting to change color too, which I hadn’t noticed until we were coming up the trail. _All this stress has really messed with my normal observations, huh?_

Not good. I should be more alert but I can’t help myself to relax when that’s all he seems to want me to do, considering he’s taking us out camping. Which is something I’ve been wanting to do all my life but never been able to because let’s face it? I don’t think my father ever cared about what I wanted to do or didn’t want to do. _But now…_ Now I can actually enjoy myself and I have Nixon to thank for that. _My eyes must be so wide right now, haha._ Everything screamed pretty and aesthetic. The direction we were taking started to look like it was coming to an end with nothing else popping out at us, so he suggested we go another way. I didn’t know where, but it must be nice since he’s excitedly spewing out facts again. “Hey?” I looked over to him showing that he had my attention. “Did you know snails can sleep for three years?”

I stopped for a moment and looked at him surprised and a little sad for the snails, “You mean if they’re in like, year two or something, and someone steps on them, they just wasted two years of their life sleeping?”

He laughed with a shrug, “Sucks to be a snail.” We continued walking until we arrived at a lake and he gave me a little push to be funny like he was going to push me in the water. I laughed, but it cut short when I took a look around the area completely enraptured by the view. The lake reflected the green and orange and brown trees around us with the sun glinting off of the surface making it shimmer like a million crystals.

I couldn’t help the breathless words escaping me, “Wow, it’s beautiful.” It was perfect too. It sucks that I can’t _really_ enjoy this without the constant thought of him… of Jack, but it was perfect. If this were to turn into a date, who the hell cares if Nixon murdered people? _Wait, take a step back for a moment._ I sucked in a breath and let it out, _You don’t know him that well yet, and really? You don’t care that he kills people?_ I took another breath and finalized, _Take your time with this. There is no reason to rush this. We don’t need a repeat of last time._ I stopped. I reasoned with myself, _That wasn’t my fault… was it?_

I heard a scoff and movement to my side, hearing a rough, “You’re beautiful.” _Fuck._ I didn’t say anything because I was too fucking flustered to and he was being really high strung about himself, so I opted with stuttering a sigh of content. He laughed, acting all confident, “Let me show you how to skip rocks.” I nodded not hesitating when he offered his hand, taking it with much zeal. He took me to the water’s edge and picked up two rocks testing them, by throwing them in the air and catching them, before handing one to me. “Watch this!” He said with a buzz in his movements as he demonstrated, his rock skimming the surface of the water with three heavy hops before ‘plopping’ underwater in the middle of the large lake. “It’s easy!”

I stared at him with indignation, “Easy?! Yeah, as easy as spotting a nail in a pile of hay!” He didn’t laugh or say anything, just hummed and came to stand behind me. “Alright, since you think it’s so hard, let me get you in a good position.” _Do you need to be in a good position for this?!_ I’d never skipped rocks before so this was new and a little frightening. _What if I hit a fish?!_ I felt a little sweat build on my forehead because of how nervous I was and how close Nixon was. His heat was comforting, but because I was still flustered from earlier the blush came back full force when he came up behind me and took my arms gently to position them correctly.

He had to bend to be at my height, so his head was leaning down near my ear and his legs were on each side of me, bent at the knees. “Now, when I step away I want you to throw it with as much force as you can, but! Not with so much force that you drive it into the grass before the lake.” I shivered at his warm breath tickling the little hairs on my neck and then felt a tug on my ear. _Did he just…?_

“Did you just bite me?!” I went to turn around and give him a piece of my mind but he locked me in place by saying, “Don’t move or I’ll have to get you back in position… and do it again.” He added with a sly remark. I couldn’t see him but I’m pretty sure he’s smirking. He gave me the go-ahead to throw it, moving back so I wouldn’t whack him in the head. _Although I wouldn’t mind that right about now!_ I threw the rock at an angle like he’d instructed me to do and watched as it skipped once and then plummeted in the water, like my heart.

It was quiet and the air was crackling with barely contained laughter from behind me, so in defense of myself, I decided to ask randomly, “Where did you get those facts from anyway?”

“I do a lot of weird internet surfing.” I was about to comment on what he meant by weird but he interrupted me, and I was kind of glad he did because then he said, “Oh! Wanna hear another one? Kangaroos can’t fart.”

I move out of position to turn and look at him, “I don’t think its the internet that’s weird.”

“Oh really?” He asked, coming over to stand in front of me.

“Yeah, you’re the one that’s weird.” I teased with a titter.

He brushed my statement off with a loud, “Yeah? Well, you like said weird one.” Adding, “Thought you’d escape my teasing, huh?”

“Wha-?” I couldn’t finish my sentence because he picked me up and walked closer to the water until his shoes were almost submerged in the water. He held me over the water and I stared up at him with wide eyes, “What are you doing?!” I didn’t dare move in case he decided to drop me. That didn’t matter because his eyes sparkled with the intent of dropping me in the water anyway while my muscles locked up in a panic as I anticipated what he was going to do. “We didn’t bring extra clothes! Don’t drop me! I swear, Nixon. If you drop me, I will end you!”

He brought me close to his chest, walking away from the water, all the while laughing at my red face caused by my panic and outrage at him. “Alright, alright!” He kept walking along the side of the lake at an easy pace not bothering to put me down. “Calm down, I wouldn’t drop you in the water like that. Besides, there is a much funner way to do that.” _What?! How is there anything fun about throwing me in the water that is most likely freezing?!_ I wasn’t able to voice my thoughts because next thing I know I’m being set down on a big rock high off the ground. “Take your shoes off.” I stare at him and he sighs, “Don’t make me come up there and do it myself, Cinderella.” I comply and watch him suspiciously as I take my shoes off and am handed a rope that is tied to the tree near the rock and closet to the lake. “Go ahead and jump.”

I look over at him wide-eyed and shake my head, “No way. There’s _no way_ I’m jumping into that laaaaakkkkkkkeeee!” I squeal as he jumps up on the rock and pushes me off. I grip the rope tightly as my bare feet skim the water and hear Nixon shout out, “Let go! You’ll hit the rock!” His voice sounds a little alarmed when I seem to hesitate, shaking my head with closed eyes, but my hands decide that I can no longer hold on; finally, I drop into the seemingly and surprisingly lukewarm water. I resurface spitting water out and looking to him with a glare and he laughs at me, my hair covering the right side of my face. I growl and loudly shout, “NIXON GRAY! I’M GOING TO END YOU!”

I start to swim back to the shoreline to seriously _end him_ , but I stop when I see him catch the rope and let out a “WOOOOHHHH!” He swings down and crashes into the water far ahead of where I’d landed. He resurfaces and strokes his way over to me, the whole time I’m kicking my feet to stay above the surface and glaring at him. “That was awesome, yeah?” He puffs out when he reaches me. I don’t say anything and jump on top of him trying to push him underwater for payback. Unfortunately, he is much stronger than me, so all that happened was that he grabbed my waist and held me up while I tried pushing down on his shoulders. “Haha! Calm down! I brought some towels and we have that blanket back at camp. I can make us a fire when we get back.” I huff and stop pushing down his shoulders, going limp in his grip. He continued, “Then I’ll make us some nice, hot food and then we can cuddle by the fire…”

My face burned hot and I splashed water at his face as best as I could from my position. His arms shook with his laughter and he had to set me down in the water in order to not drop me. _Not like it’d matter anyway._ I must have been spacing out because the next thing I knew water was being splashed at me, causing me to spit more of it out. Nixon chuckled at my face and I snorted, “Oh, you’re so getting it now!” As quickly as I could, I swam away until I was not in grabbing distance and pushed a wave of water at him. Before it hit his face though he stood up and it hit his chest instead. “That’s cheating!” I accused, pointing at him in my anger.

“Being tall isn’t cheating, Love. It’s called an advantage…. So I can do this!” I didn’t have time to move out of the way when suddenly he went underwater and came up under me, straddling me on his shoulders.

I let out a shriek in my short-lived terror then started knocking his head with my fists sideways, “Don’t do that!” He only laughed, like he had nothing better to do than mock me and started toward the shoreline. I hadn’t noticed the sun was going down until he pointed it out and said we should head back before it got too dark. He didn’t put me down when I told him he should. No, instead he decided he’d carry me back to the campsite with me holding on for dear life. “I’m not complaining, but aren’t you tired from carrying all of that stuff from earlier?” First, he stopped by the rock to grab the compass, map, and half-empty water bottles we’d left there when he decided to push me in the lake.

He shook his head while my fingers glided through the thin wet strands, “No, it’s more or less a workout.” I ‘mhm-ed’ and continued to run my fingers through his hair, twirling a few longer pieces when I got to the end. At one point I stopped and twisted my hair in my hands in order to get the extra water out of my hair, giggling when some of it dripped onto his face, “Ay! Stop getting me wetter than I already am!” The clothing was sticking to my body and the chilly air wasn’t helping our situation, well, my situation. _Does he get cold? He doesn’t look cold…_ Nixon must have felt my shivering for he asked how I was doing.

“I’m doing _cold_ since it was someone’s smart idea to go for a swim in the lake on a windy day.” I added, “But I’m not pointing any fingers, so…” He didn’t say anything, and shortly after we arrived right as the sun-kissed the horizon. He bent down next to the blanket for me to get down off of him and onto it. “Thanks.” I smiled. “Today was really fun.”

“Ah, I plan to please the lady.” He joked while he went to find some firewood and set everything down such as our shoes next to the blanket. While I waited for him to come back I got my phone out of shoes and texted my Mom, knowing her she probably thinks I’m dead. She travels a lot so she likes to hear from me every once and awhile. It was a few minutes later when I heard Nixon making his way back. I looked up from my game and shut my screen off when he set the wood down in the makeshift fire pit. “You didn’t get a towel?” I shrugged my shoulders in my way of saying “Whoops, I forgot I was getting hypothermia” and he sighed in half amusement as he went over to the bag and grabbed a towel, throwing it at me. “Might want to take those clothes off.”

“And wear what?” I questioned. _I didn’t bring any clothes. I told him this would happen! And I’m not getting naked with just a towel!_

“Relax, I have an extra pair of clothing for you. We don’t need you catching anything.” He smiled at me cutely and I blushed. He handed me a long shirt and another long sleeve with boxers but no pants.

“Uhhh..” I began but decided _who cares._ I walked a little way and hid behind some trees before I undressed from my wet clothing. Though I struggled because it was stuck to my skin, I was able to get them off and use the towel to dry myself. Throwing the towel over a low branch so it wouldn’t get so dirty, I pulled the boxers over me and left my bra off, tugging the long sleeve on first and then the long shirt over it. It felt like I was wearing a semi-long dress. I felt a little insecure but kept my head high as I walked back with my wet clothing and damp towel. He greeted me with a wave and smile, poking at the small flame so it’d spread to the other twigs.

We locked eyes and I asked with a sluggish voice as if caught in a daze, “Shouldn’t you change too?”

He kept poking the flame with a stick still looking at me like he was in a trance, “Hmm?” Glancing to the side, I crossed my arms waiting for him to answer my question. He stopped poking the flame when the stick suddenly snapped in his hand, seeming to shake him out of his trance, and said, “Oh, I only brought those clothes and an extra pair of shorts and boxers. Sometimes I don’t wear a shirt when I sleep and I don’t think you want to see me shirtless.” _Do I really not want to though?_ Shaking my head, I placed my wet clothes by the firepit like he instructed: laying them out so they didn’t touch each other.

Finished with that, I walked over to the blanket and sit on it, maneuvering myself so the shirt tucked over my legs. Looking back over to him, I chide, “Well, it’s getting darker and cooler so you should probably get out of those wet clothes.” He agreed but didn’t stand up from playing with the fire. “Nixon,” I stressed his name.

He sighed looking over to me, “Alright, give me a minute to set up the food, and then I’ll change, kay?” I watched him thoughtfully and nodded playing with the loose strings on the blanket, the towel wrapped around my shoulders to catch the water dripping from my hair.


	22. Morsel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Filler.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Fallingwater" by Maggie Rogers

**Nixon**

I couldn’t help but think about earlier, ’ _We really did have fun, hehe. Even if she was opposed to it at first, a little push is all she needs._ ’ Then again, I couldn’t help but wonder, ’ _Why does she let me get away with... Messing with her?_ ’ The whole time I’ve been flirting, it’s been obvious. I love it when she’s flustered. It makes me feel like I’m doing something right. I mean, if she doesn’t like it... I’m sure she’d tell me? I mused, after hearing her remark about being cold, “Might want to take those clothes off.” She questioned a few seconds later, “And wear what?” I eased her with a smile, “Relax, I have an extra pair of clothing for you. We don’t need you catching anything.”

I’d given Cherry the set of extra clothes I packed. She took them and went a little way off from our campsite behind some trees. Not too far away but just enough that I couldn’t see. I stayed in place, bending near the fire. My soles stuck to the ground as I used a small stick, that I found on the ground, to poke at it. The night breeze would feel nice if I weren’t in wet clothes… but it didn’t bother me too much. My gym pants were half dry, and my black long-sleeve shirt still hung tight to my body. It was starting to feel icky. Besides, that... It was a nice change to my usual week. Normally, I’ll stay home, do school work if I have any, or just hang with the guys. Maybe even have a drink or two. But, having getting myself involved in Cherry’s affairs, it’s sure been interesting. As she was gone, ’ _I’m glad she enjoyed herself today. Hopefully, we can do this more often. I’d be sure to bring more games to play. It’ll be even better next time!_ ’ I turned my attention back to the figure approaching the site. I smiled and waved at Cherry as she returned in a new change of clothes. We kept eye contact, when she spoke, “Shouldn’t you change too?”

My mind wonders as a continued to gaze at her, ’ _Wow.. she’s really cute! No, adorable. I can’t wait to cuddle by the fire._ ’ My heart felt light and my face felt hot. I hummed, “Hmm?” ’ _No, we don’t have to cuddle. We can just share the sleeping bag in the…. T e n t._ ’ The stick I was using snapped, suddenly, “Oh, I only brought those clothes and an extra pair of shorts and boxers. Sometimes I don’t wear a shirt when I sleep and I don’t think you want to see me shirtless.” Her arms were crossed, I must have been staring, sheesh. I already look like a weirdo.’ “Um, set your clothes on the tablecloth. Make sure they’re not touching.” I suggested. She then went to sit on the blanket, I picked up another stick nearby, and poked at the fire. Staring at its yellow-orange color, it was mesmerizing, to say the least. “Well, it’s getting darker and cooler so you should probably get out of those wet clothes.” I nodded my head, deciding to change later. ’ _I still have to set the tent up._ ’

“Nixon.” She spoke sternly, like a mother scolding her child. I sighed and gave in, “Alright, give me a minute to set up the food, and then I’ll change, kay?” I looked over to her, she nodded, messing with some string on the blanket. I stood up and moved towards the grill rack, setting it up over the fire. While that heats up, I took out the thawed beef and made circles on to the cutting board. I put the extras back into a separate container. I stopped when I counted four circles in the shape of a burger. After that, I started to season and flavor them with spices before popping them unto the heat grill rack. I set a grill fork nearby on a cloth and reached for the cans of baked beans. Using a can opener, I opened the can up and poured it into the small pot I brought along. I seasoned it similar to the burgers and turned it around the pot, making sure it was evenly spread across the beans. I rubbed my chin, being sure that I didn’t forget anything. Nodding to myself I put in place covers to keep insects and the bare air from ruining the meal. Once that was done, “Hey, Cherry. Think you could keep an eye on the food?” I used my thumb to point at it as I was going through a bag with the only other pair of clothes I threw in there.

“Um, yeah. I could watch it.” She answered, “Just don’t take too long or I’ll think something happened to you.”

“Don’t worry! Nothing gonna happen to this guy here. I’ll be right back, love!” I responded, grabbing dark blue shorts and black boxers. I took those and headed off behind a nearby tree. First, I stripped off the tight long-sleeve shirt. I sighed in relief, feeling the tight material, peel off of my body. Just as soon as I took it off, the cool air quickly reminded me of how cold I actually was with wet clothes on. ’ _Definitely a lot colder than I thought._ ’ The cold air gave me goosebumps, only for a few seconds. I did the same with my shorts and boxers, changing into the more comfortable ones. I didn’t bother tying the string of the shorts, seeing as it didn’t matter whether they were tied or not. It wasn’t like they were going to slip off. I pulled my hair down, once again, thinking it was better that way so it could dry quicker than being kept in a ponytail. I put the hair tie into my new pocket as well as my other stuff, such as my knife and multitool. My phone was back at camp, sitting on a food container.

When I arrived back, I grabbed my phone and saw Cherry was still sitting on the blanket but was watching or at least looking at the containers of uncooked food. “Thanks, love.” She seemed a little startled by my appearance, but recovered, “Glad to see you’re still alive.”

“Likewise,” I remarked. “Glad to see you haven’t been raided by raccoons while I was gone. Don’t think you could have fought them off.” I added. I smiled innocently as she seemed to glare at me. Clearing her thoughts, she spoke thoughtfully, “I didn’t know you could grill.” I scratched behind my ear, awkwardly, “I guess you could thank my old man for that.” My old man, huh? I couldn’t help but find myself getting upset. I never really liked my dad. He’s way too strict. Too stubborn to get over it. We never got along, we always fought, and we could never come to an agreement. It’s his fault it turned out this way! I wanted her to be happy! I can’t believe I didn’t see it. It was so obvious..! I must have been frowning because Cherry was tapping my shoulder, “What’s wrong?” There was concern in her voice.

I brushed it off, “It’s nothing. Just a bad memory.” I turned, asking Cherry to set my wet clothes by the fire, and started cooking the food on the grill. Occasionally, I would use a grill fork to flip the burgers and stir the pot of cooking beans. The smell itself was pleasant, making my mouth water and stomach growl. Cherry watched as I cooked from the blanket. Maybe just to stay out of my way. The food didn’t take long at all to finish. The fact that the beans were boiling and the burgers sizzling meant that it was done and ready to be served. ’ _Great._ ’

Turning to face Cherry, I was surprised to see she had already set out the tablecloth and were now placing sauces and drinks on the cloth. “Well, I’ll be damned. You already beat me to it.” She looked at me and smiled, “Thought I make myself useful seeing you do pretty much everything else.”

“That’s sweet, love. I guess that means I could rely on you a bit more.” I grinned and began fixing food when she handed me the plates. We sat across from each other, a steaming hot plate of food in front of us both. I was first to start eating, Cherry following behind right after. “How is it? I didn’t burn anything, did I?” I asked, curious. ’ _It tastes just fine to me_.’ “No, it’s good. You really know how to cook, huh?” She laughed, “I wouldn’t expect it from someone like you.”

“Oh, really? Not anyone can just come out and camp like this, knowing someone’s out to get us.” I said. Saying that must have triggered the reality of the situation because that content expression on her face, tightened into one of worry. ’ _Ah, now I’ve dampened the mood._ ’ In an attempt to brighten the mood, using my fingers, I pointed to myself, “Not like this guy can! So, don’t worry!” I couldn’t tell if it worked or not but just started eating food again, not saying a word. I cursed mentally, ’ _It was going so well. I’m such an idiot..!_ ’ Thinking to myself, staring at the ground, ’ _What could I do..? Hmm?_ ’

Her words took me out of my thoughts, “You should eat. The food is going to get cold if you don’t.” I looked at her and then my plate. She’s right... And I am pretty hungry. I raised my eyes to me her face. My eyes wandered over her figure. The shirt was a bit big on her, it looked like a dress in a way, only managing to cover her upper thighs. But only barely. Though, you could see the boxers poking from underneath. I lightened up, “You know.. Seeing you in my clothes... Makes you look far more... Alluring~” I purred. I wanted to test her, see how far I can go with this until she tells me to stop. She has already let me get away with showing my affection with hugs, and kisses. You might as well call me her boyfriend already. I honestly can’t wait till we start dating when this all blows over. She makes me feel weird sometimes. I don’t want to show it, so I’ll just brush it off with confidence. She makes my heart beat, so much... I get nervous about it. Even now, I am a little nervous.

“Hey, what’s got you so smiley?” She questioned, averting her eyes. ’ _I must be staring again._ ’ I couldn’t help it, she looked stunning. The fire’s color only helped to make her features pop. “Smiley, huh?” I brought my fingers to my chin, rubbing it slowly. I directed my attention elsewhere, my eyes found their way back to her. I ignored the plate of food in front of me and crawled over to sit next to Cherry. She felt stiff and uncomfortable. Maybe it’s because we’re so close... Or maybe it’s because of my hand placed on the ground behind her. It could be a number of reasons. I glanced down at her, my breathing low. I raised my hand up...

“Nixon…. What.. what are you do- I gently pulled Cherry into my arms, turning her to look at me. I narrowed my eyes as we stared at each other. I smirked, attempting to appear seductive, “You, of course. Catherine.” I held my gaze, showing off my teeth. My piercings tugging at my lips. Seeing her turn red was the best part of it. ’ _She really is beautiful. I wanna see a smile._ ’ The only other sounds you could hear were the forest’s night and the crackling of the fire. My heart was beating again. Damn... Damn it... I swallowed, nervously, looking into her brown eyes. I found myself leaning down towards her. ’ _I shouldn’t... Not now._ ’

From here, I could clearly smell her scent, it relaxed me to an extent. She smelt nice, despite using my shower products. Still, her scent was there. I felt a hand of hers reach my chest as if she was going to push me away. However, when I pushed forward, there was no obvious resistance. In the few seconds, I had to make a move, I wracked my brain, ’ _I shouldn’t be doing this.! I should wait.. Wait until all this is over.. But, I have already gotten this far, why go back?’ Why not?_ ’ The warmth of her face was known, I could feel the heat radiated off of her. It was a pleasant feeling. Our noses touched, our lips barely inches apart….

BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ

’ _Fucking hell… And I was so close!_ ’

My phone rang in my pocket, I pulled away, letting Cherry go… for now. I got up and moved away, before checking the caller. I was expecting it to be my mom to check up on things but no… it’s Mrs. Piggy’s husband. ’ _As expected. Of course, he’d cockblock me. Damn it._ ’ I answered the phone, starting with a ‘Hey’.

“Dude, what happened? I thought we were supposed to hang today?” He questioned. “We have that research project to do!” He added. I chuckled, “Yea... I sort of forgot about that.”

“What do you mean you forgot? You’re hopeless.” He replied, annoyed. “We can get it done by Monday if we start today.” I used my hand as a muffler and whispered, “I’m kind of busy buddy.”

“Yeah? With what? It can’t be as important as your grade. Midterms are coming up.”

’ _He’s right._ ’ I sighed, “Fine. Why don’t you come with your laptop and we can start?”

’ _Now, I can’t spend as much time with Cherry as I want. Stupid assignment!_ ’ I wouldn’t have even agreed to do the work if it wasn’t worth like sixty percent of my grade. And it’s a partner assignment. So, I’m not gonna bring Liam down with me. He wants to be a doctor in the future.

“But if you’re ‘so’ busy we can start tomorrow or Sunday but it’ll be rushed.” He says, sarcastically. “Yeah, sure. So, we have to stay up all night together to finish it. I think not. Bring your ass over here..! I’m at the cabin this weekend.” I rubbed my neck, “You remember where it’s at, right?”

“The cabin? Yea, how could I forget those creepy-ass woods. It sucks that my car won’t make it through.” He complained. “The woods?” It grew quiet on his end for a few seconds. “What the hell? I’m not going through those woods at night. I can’t see a thing out there!” He exclaimed. I briefly looked over to Cherry, seeing curiosity plaster her face. I then teased, “What are you? Pussy? Man up and get out here.!”

“I’m not a pussy!” He huffed over the phone. I shrugged, “What? You want me to pick up at the edge? Sounds like a pussy to me.”

Liam growled, “No! I can get to the cabin on my own! I don’t need your help! See you there!” He yelled defiantly and hung up the phone.

“Welp,” I said to myself, “Hope he remembers to grab a flashlight.” ’ _Knowing Liam, he’d start off boldly but when it boils down, he’ll freak._ ’ I know him. The first time walking back home at night in these woods, he’d jump at every sound and hold tight to me. I’d probably have to go get him. I know he’ll call when he hits the edge. But, even if he did make it to the cabin, I’m sure he’ll realize I’m not there and be even more frightened. ’ _Haha, oh my beloved friend. I totally gotta mess with you._ ’

I flipped my hair as I face Cherry with a big smile, my hands on my hips, “Looks like we can’t cuddle anymore. We have a guest on the way.”


	23. Flirtations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Last filler chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was supposed to be finished sometime in December/January 2019 but it ended up taking me three months to finish. It was completed in March 2020.
> 
> To make up for this it is about 2,000/3,000 words longer than usual, which can happen on occasion, dependent upon what the chapter is covering at that time.

**Cherry**

The night’s cold breeze air-dried my hair quickly but left it damp on the wet towel. My shoes were still off, the cool dirt sticking between my toes and causing my feet to cuddle against each other for warmth. Putting my socks on now wouldn’t do anything but keep my feet damp and numb my toes. Shrugging the towel off my shoulders I folded it up and placed it by my (Nixon’s) drying clothes, then sat down on the blanket once more watching the fire dance in the gentle-blowing breeze. Nixon seemed deep in thought cooking the food so I took the time to set up the tablecloth and plates down, sucking in the smell of smoked meat and the breath of forest green.

Now he was smiling but his earlier frown bothered me. It couldn’t have been nothing if it was “just a bad memory”. Bad memories are not considered just _anything._.. he wouldn’t have looked so bothered if that were true. Seeing his face now, though, it looks like nothing I say will get him to talk about it. I continue to set up, looking over my work, when his voice breaks through the quiet of the sizzling food, “Well, I’ll be damned. You already beat me to it.”

I glance up, smiling sweetly, although, a bit shocked at being caught, “Thought I’d make myself useful seeing you do pretty much everything else.”

He smiles handsomely, taking the plate I hand him and giving it back to me filled, “That’s sweet, Love. I guess that means I could rely on you a bit more.” The nickname and compliment put a thrill through me and I found the urge to reach over and thank him, but the aroma of food and the sauces and drinks in the way prevented me from doing so. It’s a nice feeling to get praise from Nixon, other than from my Mother, and not because I find him intriguing. Flattering remarks are welcome and something that I don’t receive often, which makes them significant to me. I wait for him to take the first bite, a rule that must have been adapted into my life at a time that I don’t want to, or can’t seem to remember.

“How is it? I didn’t burn anything, did I?” He asks, a nervous tint to his eyes.

Finishing the bite I took, “No, it’s good. And ask, “You really know how to cook, huh?” Before he can say anything though, I add with a snort of laughter, “I wouldn’t expect it from someone like you.”

“Oh, really? Not anyone can just come out and camp like this, knowing someone’s out to get us.” He responds nonchalantly, a certain flair to the way he expresses his bodily emotions. On my end, I feel as the pushed aside worry starts to cave in abruptly finding my appetite non-existence. The bite of beans I’d taken tastes stale and the smell of food sickening. His voice sounds far away now, underwater... “Well, not like this guy can! So, don’t worry!”

 _How could I have been so stupid? He’s out there and here_ we are _! Camping!_ I look to Nixon and see him holding the burger mid-air, in deep thought, a scowl uglifying his features and pulling at his attractive lip piercings. _One person’s meal is already ruined, probably shouldn’t make it two._ Taking a breath, I force the panic down with a hard swallow and repeat his words in my head: _he’s right, in saying that no one else has the balls to be out in the open after experiencing something like… that._

Exhaling I prompt, “You should eat. The food is going to get cold if you don’t.” I watch him look from me to the plate and back again, but instead of looking away from his gaze locks on me… I subconsciously tug at the strings of the blanket and bite my lip. Nervously peeking through my lashes, I notice the shutter of his eyes trailing down my body and feel my cheeks burn, a sudden urge to itch my nose overcomes me.

I reach up to do so and Nixon’s eyes settle back on mine, freezing my hand mid-air, and watch as a glowing expression spreads across his face. “You know.. Seeing you in my clothes... Makes you look far more... Alluring~” Low and soft… like a cat purring, falls from his smiling lips, almost… seductively? Using the hand to brush some hair behind my ear I flick my gaze up to him again almost embarrassed that I feel shy.

After a moment, I question, “Hey, what’s got you so smiley?” While averting my eyes again as he just continues to stare at me. It’s not the uncomfortable staring: it’s the kind of stare that makes you want to hide and bask in the attention at the same moment. The fire beside us feels warm against the icy wind. I sneak a peek back up, losing myself in his grey pools… _irresistibly captivating…._ Movement from his right shakes me back into focus as he brings his hand to his chin, stroking his fingers along it, making me _wish I was his hand…. Ahhh! Stop it!_

“Smiley, huh?” The glow of the fire outlines the figure of his naked upper body and I stiffen when he moves- no, _crawls_ to sit next to me. I didn’t feel uncomfortable but I also haven’t been so close to anyone (intimately) in a long time. It was… nice and a new-different feeling. His left-hand settles behind me, my lower back burning at the mere knowledge of its presence there. Admiring eyes still gazing at me he raises his hand… the hand behind me slips around my waist gently pulling my body closer to him… to his warm body… I flinch, “Nixon… What.. What are you do-?” My voice is lost and I’m trapped in his eyes once again, and this time I know I won’t be able to pull away, out of his trance. He turns my body but I don’t take notice as I watch his chapped lips smirk, eyes lidded and dark like trying to bewitch me.

“You, of course. Catherian.” His eyes stay directed into mine, locking me in his tantalizing trance, teeth peeking through the crest of his lips, piercings stretched against the simper smiles he wears. It makes my already burning face scorch to the point of feeling like I have a fever. _I’m going to pass out!_ I try to say something, anything, like maybe: _Stop teasing me!_ or _Shouldn’t we eat?!_ But my throat feels dry and my own lips tremble in anticipation of... _something_?! I have the urge to lick them but the embarrassment of his staring stops me from doing so. Every sound seems to intensify, despite the fact that the only other sounds you could hear were of the forest’s night and the crackling of the fire. His body heat radiates against my skin, emollients my cold, lower body. His hairy legs rub against mine and the friction makes my ears burn. His toes curl under my feet and it’s almost like cuddling, but instead of us sprawling across the blanket we sit.

I gulp, noticing the staredown is partly over while his gaze switches from my lips and back to my own gaze. It does the exact opposite of calm me- the beat of my heart speeding up... soft gasps escaping my quivering mouth... His scent reaches the top of my throat quickly, strongly…., and makes me feel faint, almost at the exact moment he comes close enough for our noses to brush together. I softly hiccup for air and reach my hand out to his chest- more to stabilize myself than push him away as he continues to lower himself forward. The warmth of his breath is felt immediately... comfortingly, like a face blanket… My mind races with thoughts: _Wait… wait, should we be doing this…? He said we had to wait… wait… he’s going to kiss me… he’s so close, I just want to… wait!_

Our noses touched, our eyes were half-lidded, our lips barely centimeters apart….

His phone rings.

A short, quiet whine leaves my lips as Nixon looks down at the sound of his buzzing phone. Pulling away, slipping his hand from my lower back, removing the one that had settled on my neck, and untangling his legs from mine. He looked at me with a short giggle then shuffled up from the blanket. The chilly air nipped at my skin as he left my side.

He didn’t walk too far away from the makeshift picnic, a single string of ‘hey’ drifting from his luscious lips to my straining ears. I was definitely eavesdropping. I was curious: _who is calling him? His mother, father, sibling maybe?_ Again, he wasn’t far from the blanket; so, it wasn’t long after he answered that I heard some shouting on the line... Turning my attention to the food, I figured we were done eating: I was no longer hungry and Nixon didn’t look like he wanted to continue eating. I started putting his half-eaten meal onto my plate and his plate under my plate when I heard him chuckle.

I look over curious why and see that his hand is covering my view of his mouth. Twisting my mouth in confusion I turned back to cleaning the mess up, not bothered by the secrecy of it. Not on purpose, I watch him: observing, hearing his sighing, the movement of him rubbing his neck, his piercings, twitching on his lips with every stretch, his cute, quick glances... The yelling on the person’s end of the phone seemed to increase when I glanced back at Nixon, curious still, only to see him gazing back.

A smug look shows on his features as I hear him say in a loud mocking manner, “What are you? Pussy? Man up and get yourself out here!”

_‘Get out here’??? Who is he inviting over??_

I go to ask this as I throw our trash away in the portal trashcan we brought with us but I find he’s still on the phone. In the meantime, I put the tablecloth, sauces, and drinks away in the cooler and the camper bag. I feel the clothes by the fire to see if any of them are dry enough to fold up and put away, and they are! With a small smile and thoughtful expression, I fold the clothes up correctly and place them in the bag on top of the tablecloth. My feet felt dry but I saw no need for my socks or shoes.

Nixon’s voice projects across the fire, “Hope he remembers to grab a flashlight.” He puts his phone back in his pocket. What I don’t expect is for him to turn around with a flip of his hair, show off his teeth with a wide smile, and place his hands on his hips. A short laugh escapes me, and I direct my attention to looking around one more time to make sure everything is in its proper place before taking the tent out; but, “Looks like we can’t cuddle anymore. We have a guest on the way.” Freezing in my tracks, I turn back to him with an awkward smile trying not to let my disappointment show. Disappointment in not camping! Not cuddling... _I wanna cuddle with him…_

I stare at him longingly for a moment, holding myself down, all the while putting the folded tent back in its bag. Though, that doesn’t stop my mind from wandering: _his body against my own, holding each other, his lips on my jaw… kissing, biting, sucking…. My hands trailing down his open chest, feeling up his back, playing with his locks of hair…._ I’m shocked by my thoughts and try to remind myself this guy is dangerous, but that is starting to become increasingly impossible. It should be pretty easy to walk away from this after we deal with Jackson, however, the thought of doing so drifts farther and farther away from my mind every minute and I fear that soon it’ll be impossible to do just that.

Nixon comes up behind me and places his hand on my shoulder, another blush attacking my aching cheeks. My ears pump blood into my eardrums, making it almost unbearable not to jump him. “You okay, Love?”

I want to say no, “Yes, just… tired I guess.” I try another smile but his narrowed eyes suggest that he doesn’t believe the lie. “I’m fine, I assure him, “I promise. It’s just… I guess I’m a little… itty bitty... I sigh, “disappointed in not being able to camp.”

He says with an agreeable grunt, “Yeah… hey! Think of this as a beta test, we can always do this again.”

I shrug, removing his hand from my shoulder, “I guess… oh!” I quickly remember what he’d said, “You said something about a guest coming over?”

He nods, walking over to the blanket and folding it into squares, after shaking all of the sand and dirt off, before answering my query, “My closest friend. Ha, I forgot about this project we had to do. I don’t want to do it, but screwing him over isn’t something I think he’d appreciate.” His back is turned to put the grill away, setting the blanket on the ground next to the bag. Whereas, I find myself pacing the sandy ground, kicking up rocks and crushing dirt balls under the balls of my feet, nervous about meeting his friend- no, closest friend.

 _I wonder what his friend is like… hopefully not like Nixon… Not that Nixon is bad! Does this friend even know Nixon murders people?! Should I say something? Also, isn’t it dangerous for him to be out here?_ _What if Jack shows up? I don’t want him to be involved either…_

I hadn’t noticed how frantic my pacing was getting until Nixon grabbed my arm, pulling me to a stop in front of him, my feet skidding across the sandy-dirt ground. My other hand was against my mouth, teeth biting against the skin, and he used his other hand to remove it, wiping the saliva off on his pants and held it reassuringly. “What’s got you so worked up, huh?” Opening and closing my mouth to voice my worry, all I end up doing is make myself look like a fool. Shaking my head, showing that I’d given up trying to explain myself, I move to get away from him. He holds my hand tighter, keeping an even tighter hold on my arm, which starts to hurt and prevents me from escaping his grasp.

“What is it? You can tell me, you know? Nothing against you here. I won’t take silence for an answer.” His pointed smile is contagious, a small smile peeking at the corner of my mouth. “See? Now, tell me what’s bothering you. I don’t… like when people keep things from me.”

With a squeeze of his hand, I agree and blurt out, “Does your friend know that you, you know?”

I can’t seem to find the words at first and his eyes sparkle in amusement at this prospect. He asks, “What?”

Looking anywhere but at him, I finally find the courage to ask, “That you... kill people?” The air from my lungs feels like it’s been sucked dry. The wind seems to pick up: his black tousles sweep in the breeze while it blows against my back. The change in mood is noticed immediately.

He’s silent for a moment until he responds, “No. And I would like to keep it that way.” His harsh glare pierces me and I suck in a breath of fright. _Wrong question?_ Letting go of my arm to pull his socks and shoes on he continues, “I doubt he’ll ever know.” A ring of vulnerability resonances from his throat and it hits me: _I’m the only one who knows._ His orbs reflect in the night, thunderclouds brewing in his stormy gaze and a splitting frown is etched into his luscious lips just as he stands back up to his full height. I go to squeeze the hand hanging by his side but decide against it due to the dark look he gives me; I resort to holding myself. I demur to him, “I’m also worried that your friend will get involved. What if _he_ comes back while he’s here?”

He states, with an apathy tone, “Then I’ll handle it.”

My skin boils with ire at the tone he uses and I shout, “You can’t _‘handle’_ everything! If you let me, I can help this situation, lighten the load!”

“No. I need to deal with this. This _boy_ shouldn’t have been bothering you in the first place.”

I become desperate and exclaim, “You can’- no, you can’t say you’re dealing with it because I’m involved too! I can help, just tell me what to do!”

He must have picked up on my desperation because his eyes are softening and he reaches for me, “Why are you so obsessed with the idea of wanting to help me? I can-

“No, I interrupt, stepping back, “I won’t make myself a burden to you. I don’t like the idea but I want to help. I’m sorry if I seem to be freaking out on you but I can’t let you do this by yourself. Anything to stop feeling paranoid and frightened all the time.” I continue to move backward when he continues to advance on me, “I don’t get it. How can I feel terrified you’ll kill me one moment and then the next moment feel safe around you! I don’t know what’s wrong with me?!” My back hits a tree and I feel myself breathe heavily out of breath, face red from emotion. He moves closer, one hand on the trunk of the tree to my right and the other resting on my left cheek, bringing my face up to look into his eyes, leaning in. “Listen!~ You have every right to be freaking out, but this needs to stop. You can’t help me or yourself if you’re afraid of me and don’t trust me.” A scary-serious expression is written across his face, but a hint of lenientness resides within his eyes and I find myself calming down.

He sighs, looking to the right and says, “Okay. Here’s what we’re going to do.” No longer leaning forward, his hand on the trunk slides off, lifting to tuck pieces of fallen-out-of-place hair away from his face and continues, “I’ve got everything packed. We’ll head back to the cabin and talk this through, okay?” His hand lingers a little longer before he removes it from my cheek. Standing to his full height again, he walks over to the camping bag and zips it up. Turning his head to look back at me, he says, “Go get your shoes back on and then, once when we get to the cabin, some pants. Wouldn’t want to show yourself off too much now, would you?” He sends a wink, looking me over much like when he first saw me in his clothes. The blush returns and with a shy nod, I walk over to my sneakers and drop into a crouching position. Meanwhile, Nixon checks the area for anything we may have missed, lifting the camping bag onto his shoulders. Walking over to me, he offers me the blanket to carry after I brush the dirt off the bottom of my feet and slide my shoes on.

Our journey back to the cabin first begins with stomping the fire out and throwing dirt over it. Although it becomes apparent we would need a flashlight to even find the way back. Fortunately, Nixon is smart and he whipped one out for us to use. “Stay close.” He bites his lip with a cute smile and winks again, “Wouldn’t want you to get lost out here.”

I snort, “Oh, sure, leave little ol’ me out here to die when there is a perfectly fine man in front of me to do th-” Stopping mid-sentence with a short squeak, I look away embarrassed. _Oh good, you’ve done it now girl. You’re on your own!_

When I look back in front of me, I jump at the close proximity he places himself at. “You should really start learning not to space out so much… I could have…. Done so many things to you in that time frame.” I bite my bottom lip in response to keep myself from saying anything I might regret later and he chuckles. “Come on, Liam should almost be here by now. I’ll have to pick him up at the edge once I’ve settled you down at the cabin.”

Slipping my phone in my back pocket confused, I ask, “Liam?” Shaking my head, “No, wait, nevermind.” I state, “You’re going to leave me by myself.”

He looks down at me and I continue with a nervous babble, “Not that I can’t handle myself, but! Is it a smart idea?” The funny look he gives me suggests I should shut up and take it. “Know what? Nevermind, that sounded weird. I can handle being alone for half an hour.” Laughing nervously still, he grabs my hand with the hand he is not holding the flashlight in and leads us down the trail quickly, but not, so to say, rushing-ly. We don’t have much to say to each other either, meaning my earlier comment must have put a silent barrier between us. Despite this, being so close to him is a treat within itself: it’s cold and he’s warm; it’s dark and he has a light; it’s daunting in the forest but he feels secure. The crunching of dead leaves beneath our feet and the hoot of an owl in the distance provides enough evidence that it must be close to seven o’clock since the last time I checked the time.

A few more steps and I start to feel the day’s energy drain from my legs and I’m suddenly slouching against Nixon, putting most of my weight on him, which is probably irritating due to the fact I’m only carrying a blanket and he’s carrying a whole house and a trailer. “Okay, weirdo. We’re pretty close now. He’ll let me know when he’s at the edge so I’ll leave once I get a text. First, let’s get you showered because that lake water did not do you justice.” He lets my hand go to plug his nose, scrunching his face up and I cross my arms about to defend myself, however, he interrupts by saying, “Then, maybe if I feel cute enough I’ll read a bedtime story to you. I’m sure you’re tired from all of the excitement today.”

I nod my head, feeling a big yawn come upon me and move my head into my shoulder. Hearing a laugh to my left I look up to see Nixon with a sly grin. I huff, which only makes me want to yawn again. He doesn’t say anything else and it feels like nothing else needs to be said anyway. Not long after, the cabin comes into view, dark and abandon-looking. There is the keypad, however. Highlighted with color it illuminates the numbers and pound symbol on it, showing you’d need a code to get inside. As far as I know, only Nixon knows it. I look away so I don’t have the temptation to watch him place the code in and only look back when I feel him place a hand on my back, guiding me inside first. “I don’t care if you know the code, you know. Not like you’re going to steal anything.”

Shutting the door behind him he looks at me with the same grin, “Unless I’m wrong.” He rolls the cooler into the kitchen and follows behind me into the living area.

“Keep it up and I just might surprise you, Nixon.” I lay the blanket out on the couch, the sound of clinking resonating from inside the pack still on his back. I giggle and he smiles, placing the bag on the ground.

“Well then. If we’re talking about surprises…. How abOUT THIS?!” The look he gives me leaves me no time to get out of the way when he runs toward me and tackles me onto the couch, his hands immediately finding my sides, twitching against my sensitive skin. “No! No! NoooOOOOooo!~ HahaHAhA! Stttttoopp!~” I scream, jolting against him to get away from his abusive fingers, my arms flinging about. My bare legs kick the empty air every time I try to kick his legs out under himself, but he dodges every kick. One of his hands grabs my spasming legs and drags me beneath him. I screech with laughter and he laughs too, the hand that’d grabbed my ankle now removing my shoe and tickling my sock-covered foot.

Forcing my eyes open, I can feel laughter tears build up in my eyes and I try to push against him to get his weight off me. “Nixonnnn!~” I yell still trying to push myself up all the while he continues to attack, now both of my feet, with tickles. By the time I feel ready to give up and die from lack of air, he rolls off of me onto the ground just barely missing the coffee table. I hear a grunt and, while trying to catch my breath, I look over the edge of the sofa and see him face down on the wood floor. I puff out a laugh and watch as he lifts himself up into a sitting position, facing me, and joins in my laughter. “Ugh! Haaha… now I’m all sweaty!” I complain trying to sound mad but end up laughing again.

Nixon hums a laugh and says breathlessly, “And hot.”

Wiping the sweat from my forehead and moving hair away from my face, I thought I misheard him, then choke on my own spit, “Yeah?” I croak nervous again, eyes darting around the room.

He rubs the back of his neck almost like he’s nervous too, “...Yeah. Let’s unpack.” The change of subject is unexpected but I smile despite it and comply. _Hot, huh?_ _It makes one wonder…_

Clearing his throat he crawls over to the bag, beginning to take clothes and other gear out on the ground. Though, one object catches my eyes: a flashlight. “You had another flashlight this whole time?!”

“Oops, guess I got selfish. I wanted you.”

_He wanted me?!?!_

“I’m not sure if that is supposed to make me feel flustered or flattered,” I say, squatting next to him to help pull stuff out.

“Eh, I’d take the latter.” He sticks his tongue out at me, staring intently at the side of my face.

“Of course you would.” I laugh, glancing at him to see if he’s looked away yet and blush with a strained smile when I find him still gazing at me. “Stop staring at me and help unpack. I didn’t come down here to slave away while you watched.”

“What if that was exactly what I wanted?”

“Excuse m-

He interrupts me with a loud laugh, “No, no. I’m just playing. I can finish here myself since I know where everything goes. Go take a quick shower (quick being emphasized) and I’ll see you off to bed.”

“Okay, yes. You’ll see me off to bed?”

“Yes, m’ lady. Now off you go!” I go to protest but he stands up and grabs under my armpits, pulling me to stand up. I go to turn around and at least grab my bra so I can put it back on before I sleep in case his friend (Liam?) comes over, but he keeps pushing me toward the bathroom.

“Alright, alright!” I move to the side to get his hand off my back. “I’m going. But, I’ll need my clothes for when I get out.”

His smile tells me that, that is not what is going to happen. “Nah, you look better in my clothes.”

I scoff, wanting to counter that but groan in defeat, “Fine. I’m going now.” I shut the bathroom door and strip.

ဝ ဝ ဝ ဝ

Like silently promised I took a quick shower and now sat lounging on the couch as I watched Nixon finish putting the last of the camping gear away. Having already put the kitchen supplies and food away while I was in the shower, he decided to put on a show. Slowly (in my mind) putting on a shirt. Muscles contracting and making me lick my dry lips subconsciously, a fresh scent surrounds him. Having showered twice now, the scent of his shower products seems stronger and leaves me feeling calm. Unexpectedly, he gave me a fresh set of clothing, but not my clothing, except the bra. It was a long black shirt, red and black patterned boxers, and sweats. The boxers were already like shorts so if anything, I’d probably just take the sweats off later and sleep with only the boxers and shirt on.

We talked quietly amongst ourselves, Nixon now sitting on the couch next to me. Well, he was scrolling through his phone and I was making conversation. “What’s your favorite movie?”

“Leatherface.”

“That a horror movie?”

“You bet.”

I can’t help to snort a laugh, “Mm okay, if we’re going this route... how about your favorite weapon?” _This is called encouraging, why are you_ _encouraging him?_ “Encouraging the fact that he’s already a killer?” I voice aloud, too late noticing my mistake.

“Hm.? I want to know what that last part was about?”

“Nothing!” I respond quickly.

“Sure. You’ll tell me anyway.” His voice sounds malicious, almost like he’s threatening me.

_Is he threatening me?!_

“It’s not a secret! I’d embarrass myself if I said it. It was just a personal thought directed toward you- no, me, no, wait. Ignore me.” My face in my hands covering my embarrassment, my ears catch a breathy laugh escaping Nixon and the couch dipping as he stands up.

Grabbing my wrists, he removes my hands from my face, revealing his handsome face and says, “Well, you’ll tell me eventually I’m sure. Let’s get you to bed. You need to take a rest. It’s taking a toll on you and it’s bothering me...”

“Bothering you-?”

“Let me finish, Love.” He says with an annoyed smile, making me duck in shame. Despite the sobriquet being used before it gives me a sudden rush up my spine causing me to shiver. “It’s bothering me and I don’t like my girl exhausted so early in the night. SO, time for rest and more fun tomorrow.” With no time to have a say, I’m upside down over his shoulder. I don’t bother with trying to escape because every time I try, I don’t end up anywhere else other than where he wants me. Which, in this scenario, is ‘my’ bed. “I’ll be right back.” He says, leaving the room, giving me enough time to throw the comforter and sheets back and remove the sweats. Except for the last part. Pants and I tend to have this struggle where I can never get the last leg off, so here I am hopping around in one spot to get it off. Of course, in that exact moment, Nixon has front row tickets to the entertainment of me.

I try rushing it off and end up tripping over the other limp leg piece I’d already gotten off, landing on my ass. My face burns hot and we both stare awkwardly at each other ( _or maybe that’s just me_ ) until he finally releases me of my predicament by giving me a hand and sitting me on the bed, all the while saying, “And I thought I was bad.”

“Shut it. I’m not helpless.” I pout.

He coos, “Awahaww… it’s okay.” He yanks the sweats off and throws them to the end of the bed. “I got you. You can’t always count on me to fight your battles though.”

“No one asked- whatever, I’m tired. I think I can manage from here.”

“I think I’ll have to disagree with you.” He motions to the chair on my side of the bed, which leaves me confused about how I didn’t notice it before. “A chair? What’s a chair doing by the bed?” I gasp mockingly, “Are you going to wait with me until I fall asleep. How sweet! I knew you were cute!” I laugh at his pink cheeks and scoot myself under the covers.

Trying to justify himself, he exclaims, “What?! NO! I told you I’m telling you a bedtime story.”

“Even sweeter!” I continue to antagonize him and he rolls his eyes, moving to sit in the chair after I’ve situated myself.

“You think it’s sweet. You won’t be saying that in five minutes.”

It sparks a little worry in me but I still say, “Ooo~ Scary~” and giggle half-heartedly.

Nixon starts with the children’s story: the three little sheep. And it starts really sweet, as a children’s story should start off. Not long after I find myself relaxing under the covers and closing my eyes, cuddling my head into the pillow.

But… It changes.

He becomes creepy, which probably shouldn’t be something new to me, but it still worries me. Eyes open and wide now, I stare at him just as the ending of the story is thrown off completely. His smile looks creepy and his leg bounces in the seat like he’s giddy about how the wolf starts tearing through the sheep’s coats, pulling their intestines out, gouging their eyes with its sharp claws and ripping their limbs off. I look into his eyes and see nothing but a crazed look swimming in there. His eyes aren’t the same eyes I saw when we were messing around in the lake or when he’d leaned in to kiss me.

These eyes were foreign. These eyes terrified me.

It isn’t hard to tell that he is super into it and before I can tell him that it’s ‘enough’, he stands up super fast from the chair and knocks it backward, jumping onto the bed, straddling me. Out of nowhere, he pulls a knife from his pocket and presses it against my neck, leaning over me with his body pressed into mine. _I can’t tell if this is terrifying me or turning me on?_ His breathing stutters in my ear, his chest lifting up and down against mine. The air becomes thick with hot air, but I don’t plan on pushing him off me anytime soon, and it seems like he doesn’t plan on doing so either. The knife stays dancing small circles on my neck for a few long minutes more before he slides it up toward my face. He moves it with such care that it frightens me to think about how much power he would have to use if it was against me right now. I breathe in shakily and let out a gasp when I feel the ice-cold edge of the knife grazing my ear lobe, and just when I think he’s going to break the skin, his phone rings loudly; which, once again, breaks the intimate moment. _If you can call_ that _intimate._

Nixon falls back on his butt, placing the offending object down on the bed to his right and pulling his phone out to answer the call. Meanwhile, I try to catch my breath from holding it in so long due to being afraid of making any sudden movement. I don’t catch any of the conversations he has with the person on the phone, so it surprises me when he scoots off the bed, grabbing the chair and heading out the bedroom door. He doesn’t say much, just, “Sleep well.” The door is left open a crack, little light seeping through the under cracks. The last I hear of him is some shuffling in the living area and the door shutting and locking. I try to remain alert, maybe he’ll come running back in and prey me again? Or maybe he’ll scare me awake? Either way, I can’t control my body and I eventually fall under the spell of sleep.


	24. Different, lovely, harrowing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Introducing more of one of Nixon's closet friends, Liam Carter!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 25 should come out sometime this month, June 2020. Unfortunately, there are no schedules or time limits for getting chapters completed as they are being edited and re-written. 
> 
> The process considers a lot of thought and patience.
> 
> Thank you for reading if you have reached thus far.

**Nixon**

Ah, shit… I always get too carried away sometimes when I’m with her. I rubbed my chin in a thoughtful manner as I walked through these dark quiet woods. The scent of the plants filled my nose and my ears tuned in on the sounds of crickets and leaves rustling in the breeze as well as the crunching of my feet breaking twigs, sticks, and leaves on nature’s mulch covered ground. “Well,” I say, “maybe it’s not a bad thing.” I smiled remembering how close we were at our campsite, despite getting cut off twice. The way her soft skin felt on me, her scent, small nose, plump lips, and small body against my own. Any guys dream with a girl they like. Perhaps, I should have been quicker to make my move...

Then Jack probably wouldn’t have bothered her in the first place if she had a boyfriend, like me. Tall, strong, and of course handsome. I got rid of Axl, which was easy after planning it. Now, I have to plan for Jackson. This is going to be a challenge. I can’t just walk right up to his place and not expect trouble. I’ll have to watch him and wait for the perfect opportunity. But, I’ll have to watch out for Cherry so she doesn’t get hurt, despite her wanting to get involved in it. I don’t like the idea, hell I doubt she’ll be able to defend herself without proper training. I should give her a tip or two when we can talk about this alone. Letting my hand fall to my side, I sighed, ’ _I could really use a smoke right now._ ’ I remembered leaving them in my dresser at home. Top drawer in the top left corner.

Shaking my head, my mind wondering right back to Cherry, it was kind of crazy how much we bonded in a few hours to me. People don’t usually bond that fast. Maybe it was because of the events that have happened that brought us closer together. But even still, she knows I kill folk. Isn’t that alarming? A red flag? Or is her self perseverance instincts fucking up? Because if it is… I hate it. If I was that really of a bad person, I can literally do anything I like with her and never be found out. No one would ever know, no one would probably even care, except her mom, who doesn’t even stay long enough to know what’s going on.

I need to test her survival instincts, one day. Might be today, tomorrow, or in a few days but it’s going to happen. Rather she likes it or not. I want her to fight me like she means it. Fight me like I’m going to take her life so she knows I’m serious and she knows what she’s trying to get into. It’s better to let me deal with it, I don’t mind getting my hands dirty nor do I mind taking someone’s life. If she can’t do any of those things, she’s going to have a tough fucking time trying to get me to say otherwise.

I boredly directed my flashlight to the trees and bushes around me. It’s like only lighting a small portion of the darkness around me. The chilly air nipped at my features, sweeping my loose raven hair across my face. I slowly raised a hand to remove the black strands, from my face, cupping them and throwing them back with the rest of them on the right side of my face. Then I thought of letting my hair grow out again. At the moment the left side shaved down, while the right held most of my hair, styled in a side bang. Sometimes gets in the way of my eyes but I always flick it out of the way. I always had long hair, I just typically cut after it got too long. At least to me. Either way, I’ll still be a sexy son of a bitch. Sorry mom~ Satisfied with my own answer, I thought of the same thing with my beard. I’ll see if Cherry likes me more with a shaven beard as it is now, or a fuller one before I decide.

DIING

The sudden sound snapped me out of my thoughts, Using my left hand, I pulled my phone out of my pocket, checking the message. Liam: I’m here. You on the way? I quickly texted back that I was a few minutes away and would be there soon. You know, it would be a good idea if I can get the gang together for some late night adventuring but all my friends (which isn’t much) are pussies. If only I could convince. I’d have a field day messing with them. In fact, let’s see how much I can mess with Liam tonight. He’s gonna cling to me, ha! I approached the forest’s edge where I and Liam would usually meet before heading back. I could see him, impatiently tapping his foot. He wore a red and white V neck sweater and dark blue jeans. He also had a brown messenger bag, thrown across his shoulder, and a book bag in hand. I turned off my flashlight and circled him, stealthily, getting closer behind him. Then shouted, “Heyy lover boy~ Did you miss me?”

I swear I saw a chill roll down his spine before he jumped and spun around, “Eeekkk! DAMMIT NIXON! You play too much! You know my heart can’t take that!” He then proceeded to smack me in the chest, looking annoyed. I teased, a sultry smile on my face, “Stop being so dramatic, it was just a simple scare. If you keep making that face, I don’t know what I’d do to you.” Liam stared at me, his cheeks dusted pink, “You’re such a tease. I didn’t come out here for that.” He spun and began walking into the forest, I followed behind quietly, turning the flashlight back on. “I wouldn’t be out here if ’ _someone_ ’ hadn’t forgotten about our project. But I’m not pointing any fingers.” He said, sarcastically. “Aw, come on man. It was just one little slip-up. At least, we don’t have to rush it now.” I say. “Yeah? Sixty percent of one’s grade is a lot you know.” He added, “I’m trying to become a doctor. I can’t let bad grades bring me down. That kind of stuff is hard to get into.”

I smiled sweetly, “I think you’ll be able to do it, even if you fail a couple of times.” I took the backpack he was holding and threw it one, then swung my arm around his neck bringing him closer. He was stiff at first but relaxed after a while. “Just so you know, before we get to my place, I have a girl over. I think she’s asleep now so don’t make any loud noises.” I added, “I wouldn’t want to wake her. She’s had a tough day.” Liam paused, looking at me with that, ‘are you serious’ face, he shook his head and pulled away from me, “You have a girl over?” I nodded and laughed, “Yeah, the one I told you I liked.” Liam thought for a moment, “Did you- “No, I didn’t sleep with her.” I replied, already knowing what he was going to say. ’ _My friends have so little faith in me, wow.._ ’ “Oh..” He paused, “Why not?” Now it was my turn to be concerned, “What do you mean why not?”

“I mean, isn’t that like you’re thing? I know you said you stopped but I know you didn’t stop completely.” He answered. “Bro, I’m serious. I want her to be my girlfriend. I just took her out here to bond with her a little.” I say, casually. “I’ll introduce you to her when she’s up, alright?” Liam’s eyes sparkled, “Look at how you’ve grown~ I’m so proud~” He smiled, cutely, looking up at me. His curly hair bounced slightly with every step he took. I laughed, “Come on, let’s hurry so we can get this done. I have some leftover burgers in the fridge.”

“Sweet!”

**A While Later**

We finally made it back. It has gotten very chilly since I left, hopefully, all this stuff blows over by winter. I walked up onto the porch, Liam following suit, and entered the code for the lock. Anyway, I unlocked everything and opened up the door to the dark living room. Liam went in first, turning the lights on while I locked everything back up. He went over to the living and started setting things down, such as notebooks, pencils, and a laptop. Clapping his hands together, “Alright, everything's set up.” He rubbed his hands together and said, looking in my direction, “Let’s get started, shall we?”

I nodded my head and sat down at the couch with him as he pulled up some stuff on his laptop. I asked, “The project was something on teens being depressed and shit?” Liam quickly corrected me, “It’s ‘are teens who spend more time on social media more likely to suffer from anxiety and or depression’.”

“Damn, why does it have to be a research paper? Ugh, let me make an outline right quick and we search up some points to jot down. This is going to take a while.” Liam chuckles beside me. “Oh? Yeah? Now you see why I wouldn’t let it slide.”

“Yeah.. yeah.” I leaned in to look at the time on the laptop. It was 11:59 P.M. ’ _I didn’t think it was that late. And we’re probably going to be up till about 2 or 3 AM even then It’s not guaranteed we’ll be done today. I know what I’m doing tomorrow. And that’s sleep._ ’ “Um, Nixon.”

“Yeah?”

“Why didn’t you come to school today?” Liam questioned. I smiled cheekily, “I have my reasons. I won’t be at school today either.”

He narrowed his brown eyes, “I swear if you’re doing something illegal I’m going to hit you. Wait! Don’t tell me you are doing drugs…. You are not doing drugs, are you?”

“Not any that you don’t know about.” I shrugged my shoulders and he shook his head. “What am I going to do with you?” He muttered. “Just don’t get caught, at least.”

My eyes lit up when he said that, “Aw, you care about me.” I pulled him into a side hug. He stiffened, “It’s not like I don’t care... You mean a lot to me, you know.” I pulled back and leaned onto the chair’s armrest, getting back to writing things down. “That was pretty gay.”

“It was not! All I said was that I cared, nothing more.” He exclaimed. I held a finger up to my mouth to shhh him. Cherry was still in the bedroom asleep. He muttered a quiet ‘sorry’. “Mhmm, that blush on your face says otherwise.” I hummed.

He gave a side glance, raising his middle finger, “Fuck you.” I laughed, “It’s all love, bro.” Liam rolled his eyes, “I used to be so nice before we met. Now, look at what you’ve done to me.” Jotting another point down, when Liam showed it to me on the laptop, “You’re still nice. Just not to me, ha.” After a few minutes… Liam breathed inwardly, “About the girl, what was her name?” I answered, “It’s Catherine, but I call her Cherry for short.”

“Cherry? Why?” He asked. “I don’t know, just go with it.” I waved. “Okay…”, He paused, “What’s she like?” I leaned back on the couch, letting the cushion envelope my body. I looked up to the ceiling before answering, “She’s great. She’s fun... And pretty. Different..”

“Different?”

“Yeah, she’s not like other girls. Quite interesting. It’s hard to explain.” Liam nodded before getting back to work. My mind began to wander, _’I wonder what we should do today... It’s Friday and we’re skipping school till Monday so we have three days to do whatever we want. I’ll make it as entertaining as I can._ ’ There were a few options we could take, like go to the movies, the mall, somewhere where we could hang out and eat. Heck, we might even learn something new about each other. ’ _I’ll ask her when I get up unless she has something else on her mind._ ’

Nodding my head in agreement, I went back to writing things down to hopefully get this paper done as soon as possible. Liam was always the type to get things done early, which sucks but that’s just him. For a while we stayed sitting on the couch concentrating on our assignment, occasionally getting up to get some drinks, snacks, or just to use the bathroom.


	25. Introductions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Catherian meets Liam.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M SO TIRED! ITS 3 AM >.>

**Cherry**

Sunrise peeked its way through the curtains lightly dancing across the wood floor, the shades barely an inch open and the trees blocking what they could of the sun rays slowly sneaking their way out into the world. I gasp awake, sheets tangled around my ankles, and the comforter on the floor at the end of the bed. Sweat clings to my body like a vice and my immediate want was to take a cold shower; but as I slowly sit up in the semi-lit room the long shirt and boxers hugging my body now because of the sweat, I search my mind for what could have awakened me so suddenly- so early at that, yet my mind is just white-noise.  _ What time is it?  _ I reach for my phone at the dresser, clicking the single button on the right side with my thumb but the lock screen doesn’t light up with the picture of me and my mother. It’s black. I try the home button next, then both buttons, and the symbol that pops up doesn’t surprise me. A white outlined battery with a single red column: dead. The sweat covering my body instantly chills me: I have no way of contacting her or  _ anyone _ for that matter. I might as well be in a horror movie at this point.

The time isn’t relevant anyway since I’m awake and there is no way I’m getting back to sleep covered in sweat as if I've just run a marathon, which doesn’t seem to far fetched an idea at this point. I struggle pulling the sheets off around my ankles and manage to land my feet on the ground after throwing the sheet somewhere to the left side of the bed. With my phone deemed dead, I left it on the nightstand and crept toward the cracked open door. The curtains, above the window, on the pole still swayed from empty air and the sun was shining more light in the room. It couldn’t have been more than 6:00 A.M. My heart gives a sudden jump at the thought of school, settling mere seconds after a flitting image of Jack crosses my mind.  _ We still have a few more days...  _ I still cringe, giving a little shudder before slowly pulling the bedroom door towards me until it's open all the way. The silence in the cabin is a little weird but after a few more seconds of standing by the door to listen for any other movement, I hear quiet snores echoing across the floor. Confident now that I know I’m not alone, (or that anyone is awake yet) I open the door wider and walk out down the hall towards the living room. I'm surprised at finding a lone stranger on the couch sleeping but no sign of Nixon. I stare at the guy until realization clicks:  _ this must be the 'surprise' guest... _ Figuring out where Nixon is might be a feat though. I’d checked the other rooms before making it to the living area and none of them were occupied save for where I slept.

I sigh through my nose and think aloud, mumbling, “Where did you sneak off this time?”

“Who’s sneaking off?” A hand on my back and a whisper in my ear catch me off guard. I find myself in a restraining grip after turning around so quickly, trying to attack the perpetrator causing my heart to race. It takes a moment for me to realize it’s Nixon holding me so tightly, and you can’t blame me. The guy is covered in dirt and…  _ is that blood?  _ I lean forward to get a closer look at the mark on his cheek, but he pulls back before I can get a good look. “And you tell me to slow down.” The smirk on his face screams that he misinterpreted my lean as if asking for a kiss (or he’s just using it as a cover-up). I cross my arms not falling for it, more concerned about why he’s a mess so close to the sun just rising. Still not knowing what time it is and finding Nixon like a wild cat who looks as if he got caught in a fight with another wild animal makes it a smidge suspicious.

Ignoring his comment, I search for any noticeable injuries. Although, it’s hard considering his arms are covered in dirt (or blood) and there's no way of telling if any of it is his unless he cleans up. I look him over one more time, taking note of his soaked ( _ more blood? _ ) shirt and ( _ oh his shoes trailed dirt in here, great... _ ) he complains about my probing. The moment I take a whiff of his scent, however, explains it all. I flick my eyes up and stare into his eyes as I ask, “Did you kill something?” The smell of iron is thick like musk on him and covers his usually smoke and wet wood smell.

He blinks, “Let’s take this to another room.” I go to argue why it would matter where it’s discussed but he points to the guy sleeping comfortably on the couch behind me, who lets out a loud snore at the same moment. The twitch of my lips begging for a smile is hard to stop growing when Nixon makes a ridiculous face. I shake my head, stifling a giggle as he leads us to the only bathroom. The light seeps in through the fogged glass in the shower window and the white walls make it that much brighter. I squint for a moment, looking to Nixon again who is expressing his lip ring by biting it.

“It’s not what it looks like.” His eyebrows are straight and his teeth bite his red lips with enough effort to make it bleed. The blood seems to be coming from hair and dripping on the side of his face. He wipes at it before it leaks into his eyes, licking it off his hand. I don’t comment on it and continue my inspection again: his jeans are clean save for a few rips for style and blood-soaked into the end-cuff. His shirt is dark blue but it is blood-soaked and his arms are covered in both blood and dirt. His hair, save for the blood, is messy, and when I reach to run my hands through it dirt and lose hair tangles through my fingers.

I fight the urge to mock him. “Not what-?” I sigh, “look, I’m trying to accept this, maybe even grow into this because we all know it’s a goddamn sick world out there. But this… this, why- no, what or who?”

His eyebrow raises as if he’s sizing me up and the smile that stretches across his face is unnerving. He leans against the light blue walls, away from my probing hands, and says, “I’m not going to tell you that.”

I shake my head and use hand movements as I try expressing my confusion, “I may look like some- some- some I don’t know what you see me as but, come on!” I sigh, “I don’t know if this is something you question about but I don't even know why I stay around. Maybe it's my attraction toward you or maybe its Jackson... Either way, I know that seeing you like this makes me worry about you and myself. Are you hurt? I’m worried about the… the victim and I’m worried... I'm worried about what it means.” I cross my arms, my thumb against my lips in preparedness for biting out of nerves. “I mean, should I even  _ ask _ what happened to you? How long have you been gone?  _ Who it was _ ?  _ What  _ it was? Do I even  _ want  _ to know? Should I  _ run _ ? You tell me I’m safer with you and then I think I should be afraid of you too…?” My rambling continues until I’m grabbed by the wrist and slammed roughly into the wall that he was originally leaning against. Interrupted for the second time after arriving at the cabin I feel relieved, who knows what I would've continued to ramble about.

“Fuck…! Just listen, woman! You know I do this. I enjoy this. If you can’t accept it- if you can’t handle me- if you can’t  _ protect _ yourself from me. Then this can’t work.” His face twists, like he didn’t mean to say something, and then he’s pushing me outside the bathroom, locking the door behind me. The only thing that tells me he isn’t just standing there is the sound of the shower running. A groan to my left brings my attention away from the shut door and is instead guided to focus on the guy waking up after a rather loud snore. I look around quickly to find a hiding spot not wanting to spook him or have to explain myself just yet. The wall across from me has a corner to hide by, just enough for me to peek out behind but by the time I decide to lift my foot, he speaks. "Hello."

I mentally curse myself and turn to him with a nervous smile, "Oh, hey... there," comes my lame response. He cracks a grin at me and sits up straighter on the back of the couch, the position probably hurting his back. He lets out another groan and stretches in place while I continue to glance awkwardly around the living room not sure what to say. The clock on the far right wall ticks rather loudly and it's only then I'm able to see what time it is: 7:11 A.M. while the shower rains in the background of the quiet.

"So, I hear you're the girl that has Nixon tamed from chasing other one-night stands." I snap my head in his direction, startled first at his voice then perplexed.

"...chasing other one-night stands?" I repeat, skeptic.

His face seems to scrunch in thought, "Yeah, he's a player, you know? Sleeps with other girls... doesn't care... I think I'm in uncharted territory here, am I missing something?"

Although it doesn't surprise me considering the bad-boy vibe surrounding him and the fact he is attractive, it's more surprising that his friend is telling me. "Uh... I think this is getting more awkward than what was intended." I say with a slight cringe and move closer to the couch, hesitating before sitting a few feet away from him. "I kind of figured he has slept with other girls based on how he has acted thus far but I'm a little concerned you're telling me so freely..."

He shakes his hands and head at me in a panic, "No, no! I didn't mean it like that, it's just, well, I'm tired of him taking girls and then leaving them for another, you know? I don't want the same to happen to you."

My heart melts at the worry his friend expresses for someone he barely knows. "I appreciate the warning and gesture." I fight the urge to look to the side with a cringe,  _ he doesn't even know he murders people... _ "So...?"

"Liam Carter," He smiles.

"Liam, I say and he nods, "Catherian Bells, but you can call me Cherry." I say in response, leaving no room for him to question it as I add, "I heard you two had a project to finish..."

"Oh, yeah, it was something on teen depression and other factors. It isn't really interesting other than that Nixon complained like a child the whole night- or morning in this case. What time is it anyway?"

I nod in agreement with a small smile and then say, "It's about 7:30 by now, I think."

"Only 4 hours of sleep? Ugh, what day is it again?" The time of sleep concerns me:  _ just how  _ long _ was Nixon gone?  _ If he really was gone in the time before or after his friend fell asleep. The urge to ask this Liam nags me and I go to do just that, after answering his question.

I smile as he brushes his curly hair out of his face barely missing him reaching for his glasses off the coffee table. "Well, unless you were planning to go to school today, it's Friday and you're late." The panic returns in his now glass-covered eyes and he's scrambling up from the couch, racing around to put all the school supplies away in his bag that I failed to see earlier. It doesn't take long for everything to be put back in its proper place until Liam is back sitting leaned against the couch for support with a sigh of exhaustion. While he pants in his recuperation, I ponder on how to ask the question: if I ask him straight up whether Nixon left in the night he might get suspicious, especially if he was asleep during the act. However, if I can get him to tell me... "I noticed that Nixon was up before you as if he's been up for a while..." I don't finish the thought, Liam's face is scrunched up in concentration again and he turns to me after shaking the look off.

"It's probably due to the fact he has trouble sleeping. I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't get any at all." Disquietude fills me when he tells me this, only making sense of why Nixon would be out late but not of what he was doing. Recalling his vulnerability from when I'd asked about his friend's awareness about his liquidation of other people I keep my mouth shut, the nod of my head showing my acceptance of the answer. "Anyway, enough of me exposing my best friend. Tell me some things about yourself? Something you've never told anyone."

The question looms over my mind and he stares, searching my gaze for a few seconds until I say, "Well... there isn't much to say but I guess I could tell you that my family is pretty complicated. My mother travels more than half the year and my father..." I don't finish the thought, flinching at the mere mention of him. "And... I dance in my free time."

"You dance?" Liam asks, eyebrows quirked in a curious manner, but completely disregarding my 'family' comment:  _ maybe he noticed my discomfort? _ Though, it was true that it was something I'd never told anyone before. 

Before I can respond, Nixon's voice travels across the hall, "Dance?"

We both startle at his inquiry and turn to see him dressed in a dark grey shirt and black basketball shorts. “Well? Are you both going to stare at me like deers caught in daylight or is someone going to tell me who likes to dance?” Liam immediately points at me like he was the one who was suspected of such an act, and I can’t help but laugh at the thought. “Hmm... I would say it’s surprising but I already knew that.” I gap at him while Liam bombards me with “you said no one else knew that?!” and my counter, “That’s because no one else did! How did you know?” I interrogate Nixon, pouting. Instead of answering he saunters over to the couch and plops himself in the middle of us. I look over at Liam and see him wearing the same confused look like me when Nixon turns the television on. Well, it looks as if he isn’t going to answer my question, and, despite my growing curiosity, I shove it to the back of my mind and see what’s so interesting on the TV that caused him to turn it on. 

The weather channel shows rain on the forecast, but he presses the home button to go on a movie app. Then I remember, “Aren’t you going to go to school, Liam?” My question sparks energy back into said person’s limbs and he’s jumping over the coffee table to grab his bag, all the while saying, “Shit! You’re right!” and racing to the front door. Before he opens it, however, he turns back to us, and I look to see Nixon wearing a knowing smirk. “What?” I ask confused about why Liam looks flustered and Nixon smug. When no one answers, and I continue to look between the two who are having a staring contest, I stand up and cross my arms, “Seriously, you two, what’s going on? Liam, what's wrong?”

Liam turns to me with a grimace and finally responds, “I don’t know the way back to my car and Nixon does.”

I turn to Nixon and he smiles in a pleased way at me, “Nixon?” I prompt, waiting for him to cool the situation.

He leans back against the couch, hands behind his head, and says nonchalantly, “Well, I could help you to your car, but where’s the fun in that?”

Liam and I stared at him in silence for a few moments until he said, “Fine! Don’t wait up on me~” He turned to me with a smirk and walked up to Liam, placing his hand on his back, opening the door and leading themselves out. As soon as the door closed the cabin became dead silent and I became uncomfortable being left behind. I wasn’t about to voice (or text in this case) this to Nixon unless I wanted to be teased about it so I took it upon myself to pick a movie, seeing as the app was already open. Then, the idea of the internet hit me:  _ how does he even have the internet out here? _ Unless he’s got a booster or some kind of solar panels on the roof then...? Using the remote I scrolled through the movie options, avoiding the TV lease I get sucked in. “The grudge? No.. Horns? Hmm.. maybe. The purge? No. Prisoners...? Mmm..” After scrolling through the choices for a few more minutes I’d finally chosen one: Don’t Hang Up. I hover the selection on the play button, contemplating whether or not I should begin before he comes back or not…

_ I can always restart it… _

Although it was Nixon’s supposed idea to watch a movie first, he did almost not help Liam to his car so I think he can suffer the consequences of missing 20 minutes of a movie. 

**25 Minutes Later**

The two teens were on the phone with a mysterious man when he ended the call. It was silent and I was huddled on the couch, preparing for maybe a jumpscare. One of the teens was about to stand up when the banging started on their door. I jumped startled and a bit scared, my heart beating in suspense as they made their way to the door. I didn't realize how long it’d been when I heard a beeping sound coming from the door. I paused the movie at the point when they were looking at Brady’s phone (one of the teens) and looked at the front door, nervous.

At first, I wanted to bolt to my temporary room and hide but by the time I made up my mind to run, the beeping stopped. I sit there, waiting to hear the door open but it doesn’t and I get even more nervous. My view of the door is blocked from the wall, and it is also walling off the kitchen from my view so I wouldn’t be able to tell if he came inside or not. I didn’t hear the closing of a door either. I turned slowly back to the TV and pressed play on the movie.  _ Maybe it was someone who found the cabin and tried the lock pad.. wait!  _ I was not going to be stupid and call out so I left the movie on and got up to check the front door. Once I reached the door, I checked to make sure it was secure, it was, but the strange thing was that there was a jacket on the floor near the door that I didn’t see there before.  _ Did he go out with a jacket?  _ I don’t recall him with one and if he did it was out of my sight…

I turn around to sit back on the couch. Even if the threat was Jackson, he hasn’t gotten in the cabin and if he did I would have heard the door open.  _ Right? _ My muscles tense, I try to relax into the couch but that proves fatal when all I want to do is cower under the bed covers and never leave. I go to reach for my phone but then remember it's in the other room, dead. “Fuck…!” I voice aloud, not sure what to do. I have no contact and I have no clue whether someone is in the cabin or not.  _ Great fucking observant skills, Catherian!  _ I wouldn’t be surprised if it was Jackson and if it was I deserved to be kidnapped with the way I acted. I mean I was fine when he first picked Liam up, and I was sleeping! But, now that I’m awake I suddenly can’t handle anything?!  _ Jesus, I’m a mess…  _ A scream on the TV jolts me out my thoughts and I startle again. 

Another 10 minutes go by and I start to get worried. I know he can take care of himself but surely it doesn’t take this long to walk him to the car and come back? Maybe he went to the store?  _ But the fridge is packed!  _ As I barely paid attention to the movie playing, movement caught the corner of my right eye. I immediately look in the direction but find nothing there. I definitely wasn’t going to be that person who curiously looks for the source so I stayed put. However, maybe that is what I should have done because arms suddenly come up from behind the couch and hold me in a chokehold. I yell out in terror and feel myself being pulled to the ground on top of someone. “GET OFF!” I rasp through their arms, thrashing in their hold. It doesn’t loosen and the attacker doesn’t say anything. I start to freak out,  _ Am I seriously going to be kidnapped again?!  _ I continue to fight against them and at one point I must have hit a sensitive spot because they let me go.

I quickly spin around to face my assailant and see, “Nixon?!” I exclaim, albeit anger but mostly terrified and shaking from fighting his strong grip so long. “Are you serious?! I thought you were still out!”

He’s still on the floor, rubbing a spot on his leg and chuckling lowly, “You squirm a lot!”

I huff, “Are you kidding me? You attacked me while I was watching a movie, a horror one nonetheless and you never announced you were home!”

I don’t notice the way he glances at me when I say ‘home’ but his chuckling seems to have stopped and he says, “That was the point! Caught you by surprise, eh?”

Scoffing, I cross my arms and reply, “Caught me by surprise my ass! Next time it’ll be your man parts that get it.” Grabbing the remote, I pause the movie and put it back on the coffee table while Nixon launches himself onto the sofa. I sulk a little longer than necessary and he looks over to me with a laugh, “Aw, come on, it was a joke.”

“A mean joke. You could clearly see it was a horror movie.”

“You set yourself up. Don’t be mad at me! Come on, smile… please?~ Hehe~” He pleads, falling onto my shoulder. I don’t reply right away, instead focusing on the paused TV screen. He continues to plead and after two more ‘please’s’ I sigh, turning to look down at him as I begin to say, “Okay-OW!” but as soon as I look at him he’s biting my arm! “Nixon?! Are you serious? Let go!” I shake my arm in emphasis and he does, but not without licking the spot, his tongue piercing scraping against my skin. “Last time I checked you weren’t a dog, stop doing that!” I can’t help but laugh, remembering when he’d bit my earlobe at the lake, and still smiling, I pushed at his forehead. 

He laughs too, “See, now you’re smiling. Wanna finish the movie or do something else?”

I stare at the ground in thought for a moment, “No, but what do you have in mind?” 

He lifts his hand and taps his chin in thought while I turn the TV off, tossing the remote back and forth between my hands while I await his response. “Ah! Let’s make some breakfast! I’m famished!” At the mention of food, my stomach growls and in embarrassment I hold it against me but he doesn’t seem to notice. “Sounds like a plan! I promise I won’t drop the eggs this time!” I raise my hands together in a promising gesture and he laughs, taking both my interlocked hands and shaking them. With a silent agreement, we both make our way to the kitchen smiles plastered on our faces.


	26. Caught red-handed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nixon recalls the night's events and Cherry is conflicted once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After 14 days (2 weeks), here is the next chapter! 
> 
> Hopefully, I only take 2 weeks and not 4;;

**Nixon**

I stood outside of the cabin, the morning sun starting to peek out of the sky. I stood covered in blood and dirt. I went around the side of the house to look through a window to see if anyone was awake. A small gap in the blinds allowed me to do so. Looking over the couch, I could see Liam awake and down the hall, I could see some movements, meaning Cherry was awake. “Damn.. how am I going to get out of this one?” I snorted and went around to the other side of the house to the room I was in previously. I slowly opened the window and pulled myself into the room, closing and locking it behind me. The door to the room was slightly opened. I opened it quietly and silently walked up to the unsuspecting person facing the kitchen.

I stood behind her, my height making it seem as if I’m towering over her. She mumbles, “Where did you sneak off this time?” She’s thinking about me, how sweet. I thought. I leaned down to her ear, putting my hand on her back, “Who’s sneaking off?” In a panic, she swung around and would’ve hit me if I hadn’t grasped her wrist. I smile happily to see her face after so long. Her eyes were studied on my form, looking over every detail.

She leans in to see closer, _Nice try._ I smirk and pull back, not wanting her to investigate any longer. In an attempt to throw her off, “And you tell me to slow down.” She frowned and crossed her arms, still overlooking me. _I can’t blame her for being curious but it’s best not to question such things._ “Won’t you stop? There’s nothing for you to worry about.” I say. She ignores me and continues until she stares into my eyes, “Did you kill something?” I blink, No shit Sherlock. I suggested we talk in a different room not only to have some privacy but to talk freely without Liam listening in. I lead her into the bathroom down the hall, closing the door. It seemed bright as the sun rose higher and higher. I groan mentally, biting my lip ring, “It’s not what it looks like.” I lie through my teeth, knowing it was hopeless. She figured me out the moment her eyes laid on me. Some blood falls down my face and I use my hand to wipe it away, licking off some of it. She looks over me one more time. Cherry looks frustrated and says, “Not what-?” She sighs, “look, I’m trying to accept this, maybe even grow into this because we all know it’s a goddamn sick world out there. But this... this, why- no, what or who?”

 _Hm..._ I watch her closely. I raised an eyebrow and smiled, calmly. I found myself leaning against the wall, “I’m not going to tell you that.” She expresses her confusion to me, “I may look like some- some- some I don’t know what you see me as but, come on!” She sighs, “I don’t know if this is something you question about but I don’t even know why I stay around. Maybe it’s my attraction toward you or maybe it’s Jackson... Either way, I know that seeing you like this makes me worry about you and myself. Are you hurt? I’m worried about the... victim and I’m worried... about what it means.” She crosses her arms and brings her thumbs to her lips. _She’s nervous. She’s making me nervous, and she’s rambling... just stop... Stop talking already..! I know it’s shocking but it’s something you have to get used to now._

“I mean, should I even _ask_ what happened to you? How long have you been gone? _Who was it? What was it?_ Do I _even_ want to know? Should I _run_? You tell me I’m safer with you and then I think I should be afraid of you too...?” That’s enough! My face scrunched up, as I grab her wrists and roughly pushed her against the wall. I growl lowly, “Just listen, women! You already know what I do. I like doing this. If you can’t accept that, if you can’t accept it, if you can’t so much as _protect_ yourself from me or handle me... Then this can’t work.” It hurt my heart to say that last part. I want this to work, I really do. My face softens and before it could soften anymore, I push Cherry out of the bathroom, locking the door after I closed it. I took off my clothes and jumped into the shower. There were indeed bruises on me from earlier. If I applied enough pressure on them it would hurt. _I love that girl but she talks too much when she’s nervous. Maybe she isn’t used to me yet. Maybe she doesn’t even want to be here. I want her to feel safe but I also want her to know her place in this situation. I give her shelter, food, and protection and she has yet to show me that she appreciates it..._ I’ll give her more time. The hot water felt amazing flowing down my body, getting all the dirt and grime off my figure. I was exhausted from the night after all the action that occurred... it’s just isn’t my day today, huh...

**Last night**

Liam yawns, “Finally done.” He stretches and yawns again. This time more drawn out and longer than the first. He takes his laptop off his lap and places it on the coffee table, turning to me, “I just have to print it out, give you your half of the presentation and we’re done.” He adds, with an eyebrow raised, “You _are_ going to school Monday, right?”

I laughed, leaning against the arm of the couch, one of my arms behind my head; the other on my belly, and my legs propped up on my side of the couch. “Yeah, the guidance counselor is going to have my ass if I don’t. Besides I can’t leave my boyfriend to do all of the work.” I winked, playfully.

“B-boyfriend..?” He mumbles and looks in deep thought. His cheeks flush a shade of pink. His hand covered his lower jaw. Shaking my head, _What am I going to do with you?_ “Haha, I’m joking. But...” I add, “If I was gay.. I would definitely date you.” He then looks back at me with a look of annoyance, “Ah, stop that! You’re just messing with me!” I smile, “I’m serious! Let me explain.”

Liam crosses his arms and stares at me skeptically. “So...” I ponder for a second to figure out how I want to say this. “You’re cute. You’re short. I like to be taller than my partner. You’re kind and caring.”

“And you got your whole life ahead of you. I wouldn’t have to work for shit.” I chuckle. “I’m sure some girl or guy out there will like you just as much as you like me and you’ll be happy.” Liam smiles, “You really mean that?” I smile back, sheepishly, “Yeah...” The air around us was swirling with tension. _I just had to go and make it awkward._ Shaking my head and checking the time on the clock, I suggested, “It’s best we head to bed. It’s 2:54 AM.”

“We stayed up that late?! I mean, I wasn’t surprised.. but still.” He says, “Time really does fly by when you have things to do.”

“It does doesn't it.” I respond, “Well... I’m going to go to bed in the back. Feel free to sleep in any unoccupied rooms or out here if you want.” I stood up from the couch, stretching out my back this time.

“Mhm, I’m fine right here, thank you. Have a good night!” Liam yawns, taking off of his glasses and laying fully on the couch. I went over to the light switch and turned it off as I headed down the hall. I decided to check on Cherry and slowly opened her door to peek. _She looks so cute like that..! All circled up~ Man, just wait until you’re mine. We can cuddle up all we want._ I smiled, closing her door and went into the room across from her, closing the door behind me.

It was a plain and boring room. Similar to the others, it had a bed and a few nightstands. But no other furniture besides a single dresser. I wasn’t concerned about it or anything, I was going to sleep in here for a few nights. I stripped off of my shirt and laid on top of the bed, no covers. Just letting my body sink into the fabric as I stared up at the ceiling. I could feel my body was tired but not my mind. I wasn’t thinking about anything in particular either. It was just quiet and nothing else. The hum of the central air was the only other noise. It was comforting and brought in chill air that filled the room. I pulled out my phone and placed it on the nightstand next to the bed before placing my arms behind my head and closing my eyes. It was then a thought crossed my mind, _We’ve been here for two days and no sign of Jackson, which is a good thing. Though I still wonder what’s he up to... I highly doubt he stopped looking for us but on the off chance that he does.. would be ideal. As long as he doesn’t show his face, I think we’ll be okay. I can’t let him keep worrying Cherry nor me. She’ll either accept me and what I do or be like the rest of them. Dead._

I frowned at that last part. _Dead? Really?_ She hasn’t done anything wrong just yet or even so much as it looked like she was up to no good. However, if she does... I’m afraid I’ll have to put a stop to it. I’ll even make it quick, unlike Jackson. My frown deepened, _Why am I thinking about killing Cherry off?_ I’m supposed to be her suitor and yet here I am thinking of killing her. I opened my eyes and sat up. I paused for a moment, and stood up off of the bed, fixing the covers and putting my shirt back on. I grabbed my phone and put it back into my pocket. I felt for my knives in my pocket to feel reassured. _They’re there. Good._ I went to the window and unlocked it, just in case. I silently stalked my way out of the room, closing the door behind me, and headed to the living room. Liam was asleep at this time, it made me wonder _how long I had been up. Does it even matter?_ I left the hall to get to the front door, unlocking it from the inside and walking out. I inputted the code on the padlock and locked the door back up with my keys. Liam knows the code so if he has to leave early he could. I walked quickly through the woods. The smell of the vegetation and the sound of the night was rather peaceful to listen to. Why did I leave? Right, I couldn’t sleep. So, I’m going to go get my cigarettes, smoke for a while, and head back. I thought about downing some alcohol as well but decided against it. Maybe next time.

It took a while but I finally manage to leave the forest, straightening my path on a sidewalk. From what I could see no one was out, except for a few strays and a police car rolling through the neighborhoods. I put my hands into my pocket and occasionally glancing at my surroundings. You’d be surprised at how different a city can feel when no one's out. It was almost like a deserted place if you imagine it. Breaking my thoughts, it was only a little while before I was in front of my apartment. I took my keys out and unlocked the door, opening it, and closing it behind myself. I sighed in relief, it felt good to be back home... Keeping my attitude, I went to the back into my room, going straight for the dresser next to my bed. Opening it, I moved a few shirts out of the way until I felt the familiar shape of my cigarette box. I pulled it out and grabbed a lighter that was on my computer desk. I left the room and turned on a lamp in the living. I sat in an armchair and counted how many cigarettes I had. “1.. 2.. 3.. 4..” I mumbled. It’s enough for now. I put the rest in my pocket and took one out, putting it between my index and middle finger and put the lighter to the butt of the cigarette, lighting it. I huffed it one, then twice, the last far longer than the first. I sighed in relief, I needed that. The feeling of the smoke entering and leaving my system was relaxing. I huffed it one more it, blowing air out of my mouth. I stayed home for a while. Maybe about for an hour or two before I got back up and left. I decided to take a stroll during the night. A new cigarette laid idly in my mouth, my hands in my pocket, and my figure slightly crouched. It was a pain being tall due to the fact that you have to look down on most things. My neck would ache occasionally. I was walking to a nearby park, it was closer to a plaza area. I just wanted to sit and think for a while. The park often reminded me of my childhood. How I and my sister would play... well, I wouldn’t play if it wasn’t to entertain my sister. I mostly just watched her and made sure she doesn’t get into any trouble. Those were good days. She’s even made flower hats and decorated me with them... only because I let her, ha. I wonder what she’d become if she was still here. I miss her. I hadn’t realized a frown settled on my face, as I was thinking and walked right into someone. “Hey! Watch where you're going!” I growled, annoyed. I didn’t spare them a glance and kept going. I also noticed I was taking a shortcut through an alley. I whiffed my cigarette just before almost reaching the end of the alley but then...

“Arg..!” A sudden pain embraced the back of my head. “What the fuck!!” I spun around and glared at a man, looked to be in his forties. He had a stench of alcohol coating him. _The hell is his problem?_ “Give me your money or else!” _I see now..._

He brandished a sharp object. Perhaps a small knife? I stared in irritation, I’m going to teach him a lesson. Yeah, that’s what I’ll do. I approached him with purpose, my body stiff and muscles flexed. He wasn’t afraid and jabbed at me. Unfortunately for him, I was faster and struck him right in the jaw. He staggered back and dropped whatever he was holding. I advanced and roughly grabbed him by the shirt, slamming him on the dirty walls of the alley. His hands gripped my wrists harshly. “Bother me again and I’ll fuck you up.” I threatened. He stared back with the same intensity as me. “Go suck a dick, Asshole!” Growling, I brought my fist to his face, repeatedly. Another pain comes from my back. Turning my head to look, there was another guy. Probably this guy’s buddy. Growing more annoyed. I had _already_ made my decision. I snatched out my knife and stabbed the first guy in the gut deeply then turned with killing intent on the second one. He should’ve just stayed out of it and no one would have had to die. I let go of the guy I was holding, letting him fall to the ground in pain. I charged towards the second guy. I didn’t see that he had something in his hand for how big it was. I think it was a bat but he swung it and hit me right chest. This will probably leave a bruise. It hurt like hell, so much that it actually made me back off momentarily before I tried to get at him again, this time a lot carefully. It was time I played mind games with him. I’d fake charge at him until he swings too early or too late to get to him. Due to my impatience, I was too full of adrenaline and longed at him, taking another hit. I twisted my knife in him, stabbing him, in and out repeatedly until he fell to the ground on his own. His blood coated my shirt and parts of my fingers. “Bleed out motherfucker..!” I say and go back over to the first guy, crawling away. I walked over him literally before I placed my legs apart from his body as I was standing over him. I grabbed his hair and slammed his face into the ground, soon I slit his throat. I stood over his body, panting. The adrenaline slowly leaves my body. I held my knife tightly in my hand. Looking down, a pool of blood formed, soiling parts of my shoes and the ends of my pants.

“Dammit.!” _Why does this always have to happen?! I just wanted to walk around! Now I’m a mess and sweaty._ I paused hearing the sound of a car passing by. I have to get out of here. I turned my back to head back to the cabin when a light shined its way through the alley. Luckily, my back was turned to it. This is what you called being caught red-handed. “Put your hands where I can see them.” Says a voice and the sound of a car door closing.

“Shit...!” I mumbled: it’s the fucking cops! _Dammit!_ Instead of complying with him. I took off running in the opposite direction. There’s no way I’m getting caught. I’ll make sure of it. Before running out of sight, I see the officer scrambling to get into their vehicle and follow me. _This is gonna be easy!_ I thought. I clearly had the advantage of running to the other side of the alley. The officer has to go around. I ran and jumped over a fence, into someone’s yard. I could hear the cop car trying to follow me. Sad thing is, these people had a dog. I barely dodged an attack from their dog and I fell, hitting my head hard on what I believe was a backyard porch but my body laid in dirt. Realizing the situation I’m in, I rolled to my back and managed to block another incoming attack from their dog, kicking it before it could get to me. I quickly got up and jumped right out of the yard to the road again. Looking around, it was quiet, except for a now barking dog. Just as I was about to leave again, the cop car rounded the corner.

“Fuck..” Again, I found myself running, trying to lose the cops. I’d been chased for a long time now. I jumped into another backyard and out of it. Out of the cops' sight, I bolted into some large bushes and waited. A few seconds later, the cruiser rolled by. I waited for about an hour before I deemed it okay to leave. I hadn’t seen him since I hid. I headed immediately back to the cabin to avoid any more trouble for the night. Not only that, if I wasn’t tired earlier- I was sure enough tired now.

On the way back, I took notice of the time of day. I’ve been gone that long?! Its probably near six o'clock. I gotta hurry back before one of them gets up. I know Liam tends to oversleep without an alarm. I can play it off if I head into the shower and pretend I was never gone.

**Present**

I don’t want her to paint a bad image of me. I mean she can! But I’m still the one keeping her safe... I have to make it up to her today. I finished showering my body and the bathroom now smelling like my body wash. My headaches but it wasn’t as bad as it was earlier and it wasn’t bleeding any more. I wrapped a soft, fluffy towel around my waist. I then went under the sink cabinet and grabbed the first aid kit. I placed it onto the counter and opened it taking out some alcohol and some cotton balls. I poured the alcohol on to the cotton balls and dabbed them on to my head wound, wincing at the slight pain. After that, I threw away the cotton balls and put the alcohol back into the kit. Next, I rubbed some ointment onto the wound and closed up the kit, putting it back where I got it from; under the sink cabinet. I observed myself in the bathroom mirror admiring myself. Striking a pose and a grin, I flexed in the mirror, happily enjoying the view. Wet strands of hair load messy on my face. I flipped my hair in an attempt to move then and decided that was enough. I left the bathroom and went into the room that had my extra clothes. I changed into a deep grey shirt that hugged my body and some black basketball shorts. Once done I made my way down the hall where my two companions waited. _Liam should be up by now, I thought. Hm.. what are they talking about?_

“Dance?” I question, out loud. I stood at the entrance of the hall looking at the two. We all stared at each other; and by all I mean they just stared at me. I guess I scared them a little bit. “Well... Are ya’ll both going to state at me or tell me who likes to dance?” Liam almost immediately points to Cherry. Cherry giggles at his actions but... “Hmm... I would say it’s surprising but I already knew that.” As soon as I said that, they both began to bicker with each other- going over how it was something no one else knew. “That’s because no one else did!” She questions, “How did you know?”

I smiled knowingly. Leaving the hallway, I walked over and ploped on the couch in between them. _Little do you know babe... I was going to kill you at one point. But you don’t need to know that~_ I grabbed the remote and turned the TV on. The first thing that’s shown was the weather channel which says it’s going to rain today. Now, I’ll have to grab a coat or umbrella if I need to go out today. _Mhm, I guess I can chill and smoke if needed, I still have two cigs left._ I switched to the movie app, wondering what we should watch for the time being. “Aren’t you going to go to school, Liam?” I hear Cherry ask. Just as she says that Liam springs into action and grabs his bag, “Shit! You’re right!” He ran to the door and then paused, turning to us. I smiled smugly and knowingly stared at him; and he back. Cherry wasn’t getting our game and ruined the fun, crossing her arms, “Seriously, you two, what’s wrong?” Liam grimaced and says, “I don’t know the way back to my car and Nixon does.” Cherry turns to face me and I to her, pleased. “Nixon?” I leaned back into the couch more, getting more comfortable. I say nonchalant, “Well... I could help you to your car, but where’s the fun in that?”

Tension grew in the air as I felt four pairs of eyes stare at me. _Ugh... it’s not even that hard to get there from here... whatever._ “Fine! I’ll be back soon.” I smirked at Cherry and met Liam at the door. I grabbed for a jacket on the rack next to the door but decided against it. _Surely it won’t rain right away._ The jacket fell to the floor when I let it go, I didn’t hook it back on to the rack properly.

Liam and I jogged through the woods, me being the lead and him in the back. “I should’ve set an alarm. Now I’m gonna be late today!” He complains. “It’s okay, bud. I’m late for class a lot and look at me!” I laugh. He raises an eyebrow, “Yeah, no. You’re on a one-way ticket to get kicked out. I’d rather not follow you.”

“Aw, come on~ it’s not that bad. It’s just I have a lot of stuff going on.” I respond. “And what would that be?” He asks. I smile, cheekily, “I can't tell you, it’s a secret.” Liam scoffs, I pat his back and began a new topic. They were talking before... I wonder what it was about. “So, what were you and Cherry talking about?”

Upon bringing that up, he sweats bullets, “What?” I asked, confused. “No, it’s nothing!” He spouts, “We were just talking about the project and... hobbies.” I nod my head in acknowledgment. ... _It might be a good idea to really get to know her._ “What are your thoughts?” I asked. “Thoughts?”

“Yeah, what do you think about her? Cherry?” I ask. Liam ponders for a few seconds before responding, “I don’t know her that well yet... but I think she’s a delight. I can tell she’s a really nice girl.” He adds, “I just don’t know how she got involved with you. You’re a bad influence. You better not hurt her! You said you changed, right?”

“I won’t, alright!” I groaned in annoyance, “I told you this a thousand times already. I’m not up to any funny business.” Changing the topic, “You could’ve easily found your way out of the woods, all you gotta do is go south-east of the sun. And in some time you’re out.”

“I’m not walking off in the woods alone! What if there’s some kind of serial killer out here? No way!” He exclaims showing his fear through facial expressions. _Haha, yeah. Like you haven’t been talking to one_. “Alright, let’s pick up the pace! I want to get back home with my love bug.” I say, and take off in a jog. “Hey, wait up man!”

**30 minutes later**

I stood in front of the door, staring at the lad lock. I smiled evilly, I think it’s the first time I’d ever left her alone in the cabin. I have to _mess_ with her, haha. The first thing I did was press randomly buttons on the colorful padlock. It made lots of beeping noises as I pressed its keys. When I was sure she heard it, I left the door and went on the side of the house to peek through the window as I did earlier. I couldn’t see her, which means she must have gone to the door. Perfect. I went around to the unlocked window and crawled in, not making one sound when my feet reached the wooden floors. I chuckled slightly to myself, Why does it feel like I’m breaking into my own house? I closed the window behind me, this time locking it. I tiptoed to the door and quietly stepped out into the hall. I crouched down, the way the cabin was laid out made it perfect for me to sneak around as long as there were items blocking open areas, such as the hallway. Good thing for me, I put the TV in the right spot, Cherry couldn’t see me if she didn’t look. Continuing on, I manage to get behind the couch, undetected. _She’s watching a horror movie..? You deserve this._ Once she settled back down, I leaned up, grabbing her off of the couch in a chokehold. My right arm around her neck and my other securely holding her waist. The moment I grabbed her, she squirmed and caused me to lose my footing, making us both fall to the ground. She fell on top of me but still hadn’t remixed who I was. “GET OFF!” We battled each other until she hit me pretty hard in the leg and I let go. She spun around in shock and anger, “Nixon?” _Oh boy, here it comes_ , I prepared for my scowling. “Are you serious?! I thought you were still out!”

Ignoring her, I laughed whilst rubbing my leg, “You squirm a lot!” You should squirm under me something.. wink, wink. She huffs, “Are you kidding me? You attacked me while I was watching a movie, a horror one nonetheless and you never announced you were home!”

 _Home? Aww, how sweet._ My eyes soften for a second before shining in glee. “That was the point! Caught you by surprise, eh?” She scoffs right after my response, “caught me by surprise my ass! Next time it’ll be your man parts that get it.” Oof, I cringed a little thinking about it. I got up from the floor and joined Cherry on the couch. I thought she’d get over it right after it happened but now she’s just sulking. _I know how to fix that!_ “Aw, come on, it was a joke.” She responds, “A mean joke. You could clearly see it was a horror movie.”

“You set yourself up. Don’t be mad at me! Come on, smile... please?~ Hehe~” I begged, laying my head on her shoulder, rubbing it against it. She ignored me but that won’t stop me after a few more pleads she gives in, however, I felt a bit playful. “Okay-OW!” I nipped her arm and didn’t let go. “Nixon?! Are you serious? Let go!” She shook her arm, causing me to let go. Before I fully back off, I licked the spot I bit on her arm. “Last time I checked you weren’t a dog, stop doing that!” I laughed, seeing her smile. She pushed me away by my forehead. “See, now you’re smiling. Wanna finish the movie or do something else?” She thought for a moment before saying, “No, but what do you have in mind?”

I think to myself tapping my chin, the small hair rubbing against my fingers, “Ah! Let’s make breakfast!” Cherry agreed, “Sounds like a plan! I promise I won’t drop the eggs this time!” We laughed and shook each other's hands in agreement and headed into the kitchen.

“Hm.. what should we have today?” I asked myself, thoughtfully. “I have an idea,” Cherry says clasping her fingers together. “Eggs, toast, grits, and pancakes, except...” I look at her curiously, “What?” Cherry giggled and responded, “We make faces on them.”

“Alright! Cool.” We both washed our hands and started our task. As soon as I finished washing my hands, I grabbed two skillets and a pot. Cherry started up the oven and was already putting the eggs on. She moves pretty fast. I like it. I went to the cabinet and grabbed pieces of bread, putting them in the toaster until they were nice and crispy. I went over to the stove where Cherry was, right behind her, pressing myself against as I reached up above her to get in the cabinet that held the grits box. I may or may not have stayed there longer than necessary but I leaned down, laying my chin on her shoulder. I let my arm squeezes her body for a second, “Sorry about that. I had to get the grits. You’d be a great housewife, you know..” I smirked when I saw a small blush appear. With her hand she shooed me away, “Stop that! Go away, I’m cooking over here!”

“Lovebug, don’t be like that..! It’s all fun and games. I said I’m sorry.” I whined, backing up. “I can’t let you cook everything by yourself..” I braved two plates and placed them on the counter near the stove. The toaster ‘dinged’ and I placed the two toast each on the plates.

“Then, start cooking the grits and stop playing. Seriously, you get weirder every day.” She says. “What does that mean?” I ask. “It means whatever you want it to mean.” Taking that as her answer, I started on my section and cooked the grits. Everything was done rather quickly and here we were side by side, in front of the stove. “Are you ready?” I ask, readying my spatula in my hand. “You bet! Let’s start!” We both nodded and started our creations.

•••••

This is.. what I wanted to make. Yeah! It looks totally like what I want it to be. We weren’t allowed to look at what the other made but I was proud of what I did. I the pancake off of the skillet and onto the bowl with the rest of the food and then put a top on it so she couldn’t see what I made. “Done!” Cherry sings, coming over to put her pancake on her plate, doing the same as I, she put a top on it. “Can I see now?” I ask, curiously. “Mhm... you finished first and you want to look at mine!” She said, “No way, let me see yours first!” I sighed and lifted up my top, to her wondering eyes.

......

......

......

......

“What is it?” She questions. _Huh?_ “Hey, what do you mean, ‘what is it’? It’s a dog!” I exclaimed. Cherry giggles, “Nixon, that is not a dog.” Slightly offended, “What the fuck? It’s totally a dog! Look that’s its eyes and nose.” I pointed to said features. “It’s supposed to be a bull terrier.” Cherry rolls her eyes and nudges my side, “Whatever you say big boy.”

I scrunch my face up, “Okay, show me what you have then. It can’t be as good as my do- _Just throw away the thing, Nixon._ Under Cherry’s top was a very cute pancake of a cat. _Damn_ , looking back at my dog? It was far better looking. I sheepishly scratch the back of my head. Cherry smugly looked back at me. Scoffing, “I admit defeat..” She laughs, “Better luck next time!” I ruffle her soft hair, “Hey!” I then grabbed my portion of breakfast and sat at the table, waiting for Cherry to join so we can eat. I tried my best not to appear tired from my late night scroll but that was hard. Nonetheless, I do want to spend more time with her. “Cherry,” I called. “Hm?”

“Let’s go for a walk after breakfast. I can show you the beauty of nature and we can hold hands.” I suggested with a wink. She thought about it for a moment, closing her eyes in concentration. “Okay, you better not scare away any animals like last time.” She taunted. I laughed, “ _That_ was an accident.. okay.”

**Two days later - Sunday**

Over the course of two days, the standings between me and Cherry hadn’t changed much. We went out for walks every now and then, talked about random things, and watched movies together. But now was the time we would have to go home today since school is tomorrow and we’d been out of town for a few days. At the moment, we were watching TV, laid out onto the couch. Our legs touched while our backs were against each arm of the couch. “Cher.” I called, lazily. “Yeah?”

“What do you think about Liam? I know you hadn’t known him for too long but.. let’s say first impressions.” I ask. Cherry taps her chin, looking off into the distance; thinking. “I think he’s really nice. Like really nice.” She voices, “How did someone like him end up with you?” I raised an eyebrow, smiling cheekily, _She sure does need to stop thinking aloud._ My response to her was, “I’ve known him for a long time. Back when.. I wasn’t doing what I am doing.” Cherry nods, taking that as the answer to her question.

“Okay, okay. What do you think of me?” I asked curiously. She was quiet... she was quiet for a long time. What the hell? Is it that hard to think about?.. Well, I guess it’s because she doesn’t want to offend me or anything. I am a serial killer after all. After a few more seconds, I changed the subject, “You know, we have to go back home today.”

I would have to bring it up eventually. We have to go back. School is tomorrow. I can’t say that I’m not worried about Jackson showing up but if he does and causes us some trouble... I’ll handle him.. for good. I thought. “W- what about-“

“Shhh.” I placed my thumb on her lips to quiet her down, as panic rose in her. She held onto my hand against her. “If he so much as look at you the wrong way... I’ll get rid of him. Just let me know.” My thumb joined the rest of my fingers when it switched to caressing her cheek. My voice softened as I spoke, “You’re my love... I won’t let him hurt you, I promise.” She leaned into my hand as I continued to caress it softly. A gentle smile settled on our faces. _She’s so cute. Her skin is so soft. Her hair is so nice._ I had to stop myself from leaning in to kiss her. Wow, this is hard. _Why can’t you just be mine..._ I inhaled, taking my hand away, “Go and pack your things. I’m taking you home to go and get some stuff and then we’re heading back to my place.”

“Okay.” With that, she got up from the couch and went into the back. I stayed a little longer on the couch before getting up. I didn’t bring too much stuff and the majority of them were already packed. I went into the back to pack up the dirty clothes we had and put them in a bag. After that, I went around making sure everything was locked, which everything were. I then went into the living room with the bags I’ve packed and waited. Shortly, Cherry came with the few items she came with. “I’m ready.” She calls from the hall. “Alright, let’s go.”

**Time skip - 40 minutes later**

We were standing in front of Cherry’s house. It was bright out and the sun made the light blue and White House look even lighter. I thought about how Cherry could be feeling. _I wouldn’t know how she felt about being out and about in town but I can only figure it has to feel good in some regard. It might even feel better than being cooped up with someone who can kill you. I think I proved that I’m no real danger to her as of yet._ Cherry opened the door and let herself in, me failing behind, closing the door behind myself. She hums, “Feel free to make yourself at home.” And leaves shortly after to her room, I presume. I’ve been here a few times before. So I’m not surprised by the inside. But I can’t help but feel even more curious now that I can freely look around.

I looked over the living room, kitchen, garage, in case I’d missed something when I looked before. But all seemed the same last time I checked. Now, I went up the stairs, my feet not making a sound as it hit the ground. I looked to the open door on the right of the hall. I could see Cherry going through a dresser, her back facing me. I smiled evilly, then decided not to. Even if I tried to scare her, my position would be compromised by that mirror. Instead, I simply stood behind her when I went in. It only took her a couple of seconds to realize I was there. Her head slowly lifted up to meet my eyes through the mirror watching her. She flinched in fear and grabbed the nearest thing to her (a hairbrush) and smashed it against me. “Ow! I wasn’t even trying to scare you this time!” I held on to the spot she hit on my chest. _I’m glad to have been tall or else she’d hit me straight in the face._ “You hit my nipple~” I whined, rubbing it.

She looked at me then turned to finish whatever she was doing, “Then don’t sneak up behind me! What do you want anyway? Can’t you see I’m busy?” I couldn’t help but feel my face forming a smirk, a low chuckle erupted from my throat, “Let’s... have some fun, shall we?”

I bent down as my arms wrapped around her small form. One staying wrapped around her, the other had wandering fingers going up and down her sides, stopping on her hips. My nose was planted on her head, her scent filling my lungs. It was just as addicting as a drug. I left small kisses to her scalp. Cherry whimpered from my actions, N- Nixon.. stop... you said we have to wait..”

I laughed, “Wait.. for what?” My right hand played with her pants lining, wishing to stick itself underneath to tease her. My head lowered from her head to her neck, “Why wait when we could...” I didn’t finish that thought, not wanting to confirm my desires to her. I nuzzled my head in her neck, before kissing it and her jaw a few times, sending shivers down her spine. I growled to myself, All this waiting is infuriating.. Even a little taste.. a little self-indulgence and I’ll be satisfied for now. When all this waiting is done, I expect...

_...You better not hurt her! You said you changed..._

Ah, Liam. He did say that. Yes, I’m not going to try to sleep with Cherry and leave her. I want a relationship. Though I prefer it if it’s both romantic and sexual. But since Cherry would be new to that I can wait on her. _I can admit my attraction started off as pity after seeing her be bullied. And so I decided not to kill her. And then that pity became lust and lust admiration._ Shaking my head out of my thoughts, I was finished messing with Cherry and quickly retreated downstairs before she could yell at me. _I’ll just wait for her down here_ , I thought. As I was waiting I went ahead and lit up another cigarette for the day. I only have one more left so I’ll have to go get some more one of these days. _I hope Cherry doesn’t mind me smoking in the house. No.. she probably does._ Instead of smoking in the house, I got up and smoked outside, sitting on the steps of the porch.


End file.
